Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Buy Rating for Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN)

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $38.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 73.44% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $44.00 price target on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Viridian Therapeutics from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. BTIG Research increased their target price on Viridian Therapeutics from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, HC Wainwright lifted their price target on Viridian Therapeutics from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.33.

Viridian Therapeutics Trading Up 4.2 %

NASDAQ VRDN opened at $21.91 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 18.55, a current ratio of 18.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.24. Viridian Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $11.40 and a twelve month high of $27.20. The company has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.08 and a beta of 1.10.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($1.15) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.11) by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $0.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.08 million. Viridian Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 85,127.16% and a negative return on equity of 70.12%. Research analysts forecast that Viridian Therapeutics will post -4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc acquired 1,600,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $18.75 per share, with a total value of $30,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,445,813 shares in the company, valued at $64,608,993.75. The trade was a 86.68 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Thomas W. Beetham bought 5,000 shares of Viridian Therapeutics 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 acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,460. This trade represents a 500.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 1,626,400 shares of company stock valued at $30,616,312 over the last quarter. 0.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viridian Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRDN. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,183,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,424,000 after acquiring an additional 1,610,130 shares in the last quarter. Novo Holdings A S increased its stake in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 81.8% during the second quarter. Novo Holdings A S now owns 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,020,000 after purchasing an additional 900,000 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 22.9% during the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,307,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,036,000 after purchasing an additional 615,531 shares in the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 167.8% during the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 749,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,754,000 after purchasing an additional 469,804 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viridian Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $9,669,000.

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.