Wall Street Zen Upgrades Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) to Sell

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial raised their price target on Viridian Therapeutics from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Evercore set a $26.00 price objective on Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings cut Viridian Therapeutics from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Wedbush raised their target price on Viridian Therapeutics from $32.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Viridian Therapeutics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.79.

Viridian Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VRDN opened at $19.18 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.78 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.65. Viridian Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $13.18 and a fifty-two week high of $34.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 15.15 and a quick ratio of 15.15.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.90) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.06) by $0.16. Viridian Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 80.19% and a negative net margin of 490.31%.The business had revenue of $0.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.87) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 95.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Viridian Therapeutics will post -3.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc purchased 1,176,470 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $17.00 per share, for a total transaction of $19,999,990.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,090,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,545,776. The trade was a 30.05% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viridian Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRDN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,612,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,650,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280,161 shares during the last quarter. Commodore Capital LP lifted its holdings in Viridian Therapeutics by 35.4% during the 2nd quarter. Commodore Capital LP now owns 4,875,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275,000 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,466,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,879,000 after buying an additional 912,394 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 42.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,439,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,036,000 after buying an additional 1,021,310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perceptive Advisors LLC grew its stake in Viridian Therapeutics by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 3,042,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,689,000 after buying an additional 1,580,303 shares during the last quarter.

Viridian Therapeutics Company Profile

Viridian Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ: VRDN) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of targeted antibody therapeutics for patients suffering from rare and serious diseases. The company’s lead program, VRDN-001, is a fully human monoclonal antibody that antagonizes the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R), with an initial focus on thyroid eye disease (TED). By selectively inhibiting IGF-1R signaling, VRDN-001 aims to reduce inflammation and tissue remodeling associated with TED and related disorders.

In addition to VRDN-001, Viridian is advancing a second antibody program, VRDN-002, which targets complement-mediated pathways implicated in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.