Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) Short Interest Up 30.3% in September

Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,460,000 shares, a growth of 30.3% from the August 31st total of 8,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,460,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viridian Therapeutics

In other Viridian Therapeutics news, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc acquired 1,600,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $18.75 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,445,813 shares in the company, valued at $64,608,993.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viridian Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VRDN. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 344.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 6,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 4,692 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in Viridian Therapeutics by 19.2% during the 1st quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,961 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 2,359 shares during the period. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 108.3% in 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 grew its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 14.7% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,688 shares in the last quarter.

Viridian Therapeutics Price Performance

VRDN stock traded up $0.34 on Friday, hitting $23.40. 25,956 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,136,583. The stock has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.12 and a beta of 1.03. Viridian Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $10.93 and a 1-year high of $24.18. The company has a current ratio of 15.82, a quick ratio of 15.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $16.82 and a 200-day moving average of $15.21.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $0.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.09 million. On average, analysts forecast that Viridian Therapeutics will post -3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VRDN. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $44.00 price target on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price (down from $31.00) on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viridian Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.80.

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.