Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) Earns Outperform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $44.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target points to a potential upside of 122.78% from the company’s current price.

VRDN has been the topic of several other research reports. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Monday, November 25th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price (down previously from $31.00) on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, November 25th. HC Wainwright upped their target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.33.

Viridian Therapeutics Stock Performance

VRDN traded down $0.21 during trading on Thursday, hitting $19.75. The stock had a trading volume of 90,690 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,109,569. The firm has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of -4.58 and a beta of 1.04. Viridian Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $11.40 and a 12 month high of $27.20. The company has a current ratio of 18.55, a quick ratio of 18.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.54.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($1.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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. Analysts expect that Viridian Therapeutics will post -4.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viridian Therapeutics

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viridian Therapeutics

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. 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. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics during the third quarter worth approximately $149,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 24.6% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 2,359 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 108.3% during the second quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,000 after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in Viridian Therapeutics by 14.7% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,000 after buying an additional 1,688 shares during the period.

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.