Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) Short Interest Up 10.3% in October

Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,310,000 shares, a growth of 10.3% from the October 15th total of 11,160,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 890,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 13.8 days.

Insider Transactions at Beam Therapeutics

In other Beam Therapeutics news, CEO John M. Evans sold 60,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total transaction of $1,476,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 938,659 shares in the company, valued at $23,091,011.40. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President Giuseppe Ciaramella sold 51,110 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.27, for a total transaction of $1,342,659.70. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 160,260 shares in the company, valued at $4,210,030.20. This trade represents a 24.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 162,894 shares of company stock valued at $4,181,745 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 4.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Beam Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new stake in Beam Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Beam Therapeutics by 2,648.4% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,704 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,642 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Beam Therapeutics by 21.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,981 shares of the company's stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Beam Therapeutics by 200.0% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,000 shares of the company's stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP increased its stake in Beam Therapeutics by 350.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.68% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on BEAM. Leerink Partners upgraded Beam Therapeutics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Beam Therapeutics from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays lowered their price target on Beam Therapeutics from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.91.

Beam Therapeutics Trading Down 8.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BEAM traded down $2.26 during trading on Friday, reaching $24.05. The stock had a trading volume of 2,258,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,237,036. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $24.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.84. Beam Therapeutics has a one year low of $20.84 and a one year high of $49.50. The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.66 and a beta of 1.86.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($1.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by ($0.01). Beam Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 41.07% and a negative return on equity of 16.22%. The firm had revenue of $14.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.52 million. Beam Therapeutics's revenue was down 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($1.22) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Beam Therapeutics will post -4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Beam Therapeutics

Beam Therapeutics Inc, a biotechnology company, engages in the development of precision genetic medicines for patients suffering from serious diseases in the United States. It develops BEAM-101 for the treatment of sickle cell disease or beta-thalassemia; and BEAM-302, a liver-targeting LNP formulation to treat severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; BEAM-201, an anti-CD7 CAR-T product candidate, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma; and BEAM-301, a liver-targeting LNP formulation for the treatment of glycogen storage disease 1a.