Renaissance Technologies LLC Acquires 932,382 Shares of Editas Medicine, Inc. $EDIT

Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT) by 30.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,972,160 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 932,382 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Editas Medicine were worth $9,811,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Editas Medicine by 19.6% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 88,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,000 after acquiring an additional 14,516 shares during the period. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Editas Medicine in the first quarter worth $43,000. Independent Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Editas Medicine in the first quarter worth $50,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Editas Medicine by 11.1% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 272,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 27,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abel Hall LLC purchased a new position in shares of Editas Medicine in the first quarter valued at $36,000. 71.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gilmore Neil O’neill sold 15,380 shares of Editas Medicine stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.70, for a total transaction of $41,526.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 248,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $670,445.10. The trade was a 5.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,503 shares of company stock worth $57,910. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Editas Medicine Price Performance

Shares of EDIT opened at $2.58 on Monday. Editas Medicine, Inc. has a 1-year low of $1.66 and a 1-year high of $4.54. The company has a market capitalization of $252.61 million, a P/E ratio of -2.10 and a beta of 2.14. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.62.

Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.37 million. Editas Medicine had a negative net margin of 281.59% and a negative return on equity of 677.39%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Editas Medicine, Inc. will post -1.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Editas Medicine in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Chardan Capital lifted their target price on Editas Medicine from $3.50 to $4.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Editas Medicine in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Editas Medicine from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, May 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Editas Medicine currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.40.

Editas Medicine Company Profile

Editas Medicine is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on translating the power of gene editing into a new class of transformative genomic medicines. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the company leverages proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPR/Cas12a (Cpf1) platforms to develop therapies aimed at correcting disease-causing genetic mutations. Editas Medicine’s research and development efforts span multiple therapeutic areas, including inherited retinal diseases, hemoglobinopathies, and oncology.

The company’s pipeline includes EDIT-101, a lead candidate designed to treat Leber congenital amaurosis type 10 (LCA10), which has entered early-stage clinical trials, and EDIT-301, targeting sickle cell disease and ?-thalassemia using an ex vivo editing approach.