Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $38.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target indicates a potential upside of 88.12% from the company’s previous close.

VRDN has been the topic of several other research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 target price (down from $31.00) on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Monday, August 12th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, BTIG Research raised their target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.33.

Viridian Therapeutics Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VRDN opened at $20.20 on Monday. Viridian Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $11.40 and a 12 month high of $27.20. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.19. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.69 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Insider Activity at Viridian Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Stephen F. Mahoney acquired 21,400 shares of Viridian Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $23.33 per share, with a total value of $499,262.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 21,400 shares in the company, valued at $499,262. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas W. Beetham acquired 5,000 shares of Viridian Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $23.41 per share, with a total value of $117,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $140,460. This trade represents a 500.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders bought 1,626,400 shares of company stock valued at $30,616,312. 0.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viridian Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 16.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,183,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,424,000 after buying an additional 1,610,130 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its holdings 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 worth $43,036,000 after buying an additional 615,531 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 7.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,234,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,632,000 after buying an additional 233,331 shares in the last quarter. Novo Holdings A S lifted its holdings in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 19.3% during the third quarter. Novo Holdings A S now owns 2,385,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,259,000 after buying an additional 385,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Viridian Therapeutics by 5.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,493,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,979,000 after purchasing an additional 81,951 shares in the last quarter.

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.