Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.80.

VRDN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Viridian Therapeutics from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Viridian Therapeutics from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 price target (down previously from $31.00) on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 19th.

Viridian Therapeutics Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRDN opened at $24.25 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.35. Viridian Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $10.93 and a 52 week high of $24.68. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.39 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 15.82 and a current ratio of 15.82.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.87) by ($0.15). Viridian Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 83.18% and a negative net margin of 79,185.77%. The business had revenue of $0.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.09 million. On average, research analysts predict that Viridian Therapeutics will post -3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viridian Therapeutics

In related news, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc acquired 1,600,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $18.75 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,445,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,608,993.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Viridian Therapeutics news, COO Thomas W. Beetham purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.41 per share, for a total transaction of $117,050.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $140,460. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc purchased 1,600,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $18.75 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,445,813 shares in the company, valued at $64,608,993.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 1,626,400 shares of company stock valued at $30,616,312 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viridian Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Viridian Therapeutics by 344.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 4,692 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 19.2% during the 1st quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 799 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Viridian Therapeutics by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 2,359 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC grew its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 108.3% in the second quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Viridian Therapeutics by 14.7% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,688 shares in the last quarter.

About Viridian Therapeutics

Viridian Therapeutics, Inc, a biotechnology company, discover and develops treatments for serious and rare diseases. The company's product pipeline includes VRDN-001, a monoclonal antibody targeting insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor that is in Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of thyroid eye disease (TED); and VRDN-003, a next generation IGF-1R humanized monoclonal antibodies targeting IGF-1R and incorporating half-life extension technology for the treatment of TED.