Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) Trading Up 4.8% Following Analyst Upgrade

Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) traded up 4.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $38.00. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. Viridian Therapeutics traded as high as $20.97 and last traded at $20.75. 435,704 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 1,078,524 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.80.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on VRDN. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, June 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $23.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.18.

Institutional Trading of Viridian Therapeutics

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 19.2% in the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 799 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 67,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,464,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 1,058 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Viridian Therapeutics by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 28,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 17,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 1,545 shares in the last quarter.

Viridian Therapeutics Stock Up 1.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.40 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.99. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $0.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.09 million. Viridian Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 83.18% and a negative net margin of 79,185.77%. As a group, research analysts expect that Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.