Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Wall Street Zen

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

VRDN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $32.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Evercore set a $26.00 target price on Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Viridian Therapeutics from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Viridian Therapeutics from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.79.

Viridian Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VRDN traded down $0.46 on Friday, reaching $19.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,431,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,431,652. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 15.15 and a quick ratio of 15.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.95 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.36. Viridian Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $13.18 and a 12-month high of $34.29.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 490.31% and a negative return on equity of 80.19%. The business had revenue of $0.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.04 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.87) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 95.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Viridian Therapeutics will post -3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viridian Therapeutics

In other news, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc acquired 1,176,470 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director directly owned 5,090,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,545,776. This trade represents a 30.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viridian Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VRDN. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 46.6% during the third quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 175,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,782,000 after purchasing an additional 55,689 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viridian Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $35,915,000. Perceptive Advisors LLC boosted 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 valued at $94,689,000 after buying an additional 1,580,303 shares during the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Viridian Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,680,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Viridian Therapeutics by 29.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,612,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,650,000 after buying an additional 1,280,161 shares in 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.