Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) Short Interest Up 30.3% in September

Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,460,000 shares, an increase of 30.3% from the August 31st total of 8,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,460,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.2 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VRDN. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Viridian Therapeutics from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. BTIG Research increased their price target on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective (down from $31.00) on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viridian Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc bought 1,600,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $18.75 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,445,813 shares in the company, valued at $64,608,993.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viridian Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VRDN. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 344.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 4,692 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Viridian Therapeutics by 19.2% in the 1st quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in Viridian Therapeutics by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,000 after buying an additional 2,359 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC boosted its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 108.3% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 14.7% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,688 shares in the last quarter.

Viridian Therapeutics Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRDN opened at $23.33 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.22. The company has a current ratio of 15.82, a quick ratio of 15.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Viridian Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $10.93 and a 12-month high of $24.18. The company has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.18 and a beta of 1.03.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) last posted its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.09 million. Viridian Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 79,185.77% and a negative return on equity of 83.18%. Research analysts anticipate that Viridian Therapeutics will post -3.94 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.