Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN) Short Interest Up 54.4% in April

Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN – Get Rating) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 823,500 shares, a growth of 54.4% from the April 15th total of 533,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 145,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.7 days.

VRDN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities lowered their price target on Viridian Therapeutics from $36.00 to $31.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 11th. Zacks Investment Research cut Viridian Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viridian Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $32.40.

In related news, CEO Jonathan Violin sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.04, for a total value of $391,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 510,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,662,201.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 60,000 shares of company stock valued at $958,836 in the last three months. 8.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VRDN. Morgan Stanley acquired a new position in Viridian Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $128,000. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 50,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $836,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 60.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,007,000 after acquiring an additional 22,967 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in Viridian Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $9,870,000. Finally, Eversept Partners LP acquired a new position in Viridian Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,632,000.

Shares of NASDAQ:VRDN opened at $13.52 on Friday. Viridian Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $9.47 and a 1 year high of $22.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $367.34 million, a P/E ratio of -2.35 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.42.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 10th. The company reported ($1.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by ($0.47). The firm had revenue of $0.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.75 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($5.31) EPS. Research analysts expect that Viridian Therapeutics will post -3.68 EPS for the current year.

Viridian Therapeutics Company Profile (Get Rating)

Viridian Therapeutics, Inc, a biotechnology company, develops treatments for patients suffering from serious diseases. It develops VRDN-001, a humanized monoclonal anti-IGF-1R antibody that is in Phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of thyroid eye disease (TED); VRDN-002, an IGF-1R antibody, which is in Phase 1 clinical trial; and VRDN-003, a therapeutic antibody targeting IGF-1R for the treatment of TED.

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