Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday after Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $38.00. The stock had previously closed at $14.19, but opened at $16.10. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. Viridian Therapeutics shares last traded at $15.98, with a volume of 6,540,406 shares trading hands.

VRDN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $29.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. BTIG Research raised their target price on Viridian Therapeutics from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.18.

Institutional Trading of Viridian Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vestal Point Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $21,780,000. Novo Holdings A S lifted its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 81.8% in the 2nd quarter. Novo Holdings A S now owns 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,020,000 after acquiring an additional 900,000 shares in the last quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Viridian Therapeutics by 71.1% in the 4th quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 1,730,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,684,000 after purchasing an additional 719,007 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. increased its holdings in Viridian Therapeutics by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,307,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,036,000 after purchasing an additional 615,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RTW Investments LP bought a new position in Viridian Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $13,195,000.

Viridian Therapeutics Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.40 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.99. The company has a current ratio of 15.82, a quick ratio of 15.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.87) by ($0.15). Viridian Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 79,185.77% and a negative return on equity of 83.18%. The firm had revenue of $0.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.09 million. Research analysts expect that Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.97 EPS for the current year.

Viridian Therapeutics Company Profile

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.