Short Interest in Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) Grows By 28.9%

Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) saw a large growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,050,000 shares, a growth of 28.9% from the December 31st total of 9,350,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,290,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 9.3 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viridian Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in Viridian Therapeutics by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 99,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,916,000 after buying an additional 11,594 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC acquired a new position in Viridian Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $1,125,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 89.1% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 31,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $596,000 after purchasing an additional 14,644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Viridian Therapeutics by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 210,899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,043,000 after purchasing an additional 13,498 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRDN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $27.00 price target (down previously from $37.00) on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, November 25th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Viridian Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.70.

Viridian Therapeutics Stock Performance

VRDN traded up $0.65 during trading on Thursday, reaching $20.08. 1,462,030 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,247,606. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 18.55 and a quick ratio of 18.55. Viridian Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $11.40 and a 1 year high of $27.20. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.66 and a beta of 1.13.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($1.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.11) by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $0.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.08 million. Viridian Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 85,127.16% and a negative return on equity of 70.12%. As a group, research analysts predict that Viridian Therapeutics will post -4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.