Brokerages Set Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT) Price Target at $15.00

Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $15.00.

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Editas Medicine from $11.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Editas Medicine from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com raised Editas Medicine from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Editas Medicine from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th.

Editas Medicine Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EDIT opened at $5.32 on Friday. Editas Medicine has a 1 year low of $5.11 and a 1 year high of $11.91. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.32. The firm has a market cap of $437.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.60 and a beta of 2.01.

Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.52) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $60.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.84 million. Editas Medicine had a negative return on equity of 42.95% and a negative net margin of 196.12%. Editas Medicine’s revenue for the quarter was up 817.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.88) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Editas Medicine will post -2.61 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gilmore Neil O’neill sold 77,824 shares of Editas Medicine stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.42, for a total transaction of $733,102.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 327,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,767.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Gilmore Neil O’neill sold 77,824 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.42, for a total transaction of $733,102.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,767.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Baisong Mei sold 20,327 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.42, for a total transaction of $191,480.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 141,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,333,335.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Editas Medicine

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EDIT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Editas Medicine by 4.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,536,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,582,000 after purchasing an additional 370,734 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Editas Medicine by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 212,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,658,000 after purchasing an additional 25,532 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Editas Medicine by 1,183.6% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 288,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,457,000 after buying an additional 265,812 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Editas Medicine in the 3rd quarter valued at $635,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Editas Medicine by 351.1% in the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 9,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 7,355 shares during the last quarter. 71.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Editas Medicine

Editas Medicine, Inc, a clinical stage genome editing company, focuses on developing transformative genomic medicines to treat a range of serious diseases. It develops a proprietary gene editing platform based on CRISPR technology. The company develops EDIT-101, which is in Phase 1/2 BRILLIANCE trial for Leber Congenital Amaurosis; and reni-cel, a clinical development gene-edited medicine to treat sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia.