Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) saw a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,470,000 shares, an increase of 24.3% from the March 15th total of 7,620,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 962,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 9.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRDN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. B. Riley dropped their target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $29.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Viridian Therapeutics from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Wedbush upped their price target on Viridian Therapeutics from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $36.60.

Insider Activity

In other Viridian Therapeutics news, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc purchased 476,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.00 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,990.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 1,839,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,639,034. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VRDN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 43.2% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 18,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 5,633 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 89.1% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 28,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 13,256 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can bought a new position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics in the first quarter worth approximately $414,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Viridian Therapeutics by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 940,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,391,000 after purchasing an additional 14,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Affinity Asset Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Viridian Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $925,000.

Viridian Therapeutics Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of VRDN opened at $15.89 on Friday. Viridian Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $10.93 and a twelve month high of $30.30. The stock has a market cap of $997.38 million, a PE ratio of -2.99 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 18.26, a current ratio of 18.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $18.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.51.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($1.35) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.98) by ($0.37). Viridian Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 121.80% and a negative net margin of 75,711.48%. The firm had revenue of $0.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.15 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.13) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 31.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Viridian Therapeutics will post -4.39 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.