Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates Outperform Rating for Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN)

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $44.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target indicates a potential upside of 102.76% from the stock’s current price.

VRDN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $29.00 price target for the company. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target 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. Needham & Company LLC lifted 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. Finally, BTIG Research increased their target price on Viridian Therapeutics from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.30.

Viridian Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VRDN traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $21.70. 323,445 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,122,038. Viridian Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $10.93 and a 12-month high of $24.18. The company has a quick ratio of 15.82, a current ratio of 15.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a PE ratio of -4.92 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $15.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.05.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 79,185.77% and a negative return on equity of 83.18%. The firm had revenue of $0.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.09 million. On average, analysts expect that Viridian Therapeutics will post -3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc purchased 1,600,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $18.75 per share, with a total value of $30,000,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,445,813 shares in the company, valued at $64,608,993.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.65% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viridian Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Swiss National Bank increased its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 67,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,464,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 371,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,087,000 after buying an additional 58,094 shares during the period. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,089,000. RTW Investments LP bought a new position in Viridian Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $13,195,000. Finally, Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new stake in Viridian Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $21,780,000.

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.