Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) Shares Gap Up Following Insider Buying Activity

Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following insider buying activity. The stock had previously closed at $21.18, but opened at $22.44. Viridian Therapeutics shares last traded at $21.76, with a volume of 154,550 shares trading hands.

Specifically, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc acquired 1,600,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $18.75 per share, with a total value of $30,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,445,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $64,608,993.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. BTIG Research increased their price target on Viridian Therapeutics from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $30.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viridian Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.30.

Viridian Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.01. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.71 and a beta of 1.03. 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 (NASDAQ:VRDN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.87) by ($0.15). Viridian Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 83.18% and a negative net margin of 79,185.77%. The business had revenue of $0.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.09 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Viridian Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Novo Holdings A S grew its stake in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 81.8% during the 2nd quarter. Novo Holdings A S now owns 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,020,000 after acquiring an additional 900,000 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC raised its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 46.7% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 55,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $722,000 after purchasing an additional 17,673 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 30.7% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 31,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 7,450 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 1,014.7% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 228,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,969,000 after purchasing an additional 207,711 shares during the period. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 615,531 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.