Baker BROS. Advisors LP Grows Stake in Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. $VRDN

Key Points

• Baker BROS. Advisors LP increased its stake in Viridian Therapeutics by 13% in the fourth quarter, holding 1.97 million shares worth about $61.4 million at quarter-end.
• Several other major institutional investors also boosted their positions, including Vanguard, Commodore Capital, State Street, and Price T. Rowe, signaling broad hedge fund interest in VRDN.
• Viridian recently beat earnings expectations with a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss, while analysts remain mostly bullish overall with a consensus Moderate Buy rating and an average price target of $36.14.

Baker BROS. Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN - Free Report) by 13.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,971,678 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 227,272 shares during the period. Baker BROS. Advisors LP owned approximately 2.07% of Viridian Therapeutics worth $61,359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 29.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,612,144 shares of the company's stock valued at $174,650,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280,161 shares in the last quarter. Commodore Capital LP lifted its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 35.4% during the second quarter. Commodore Capital LP now owns 4,875,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275,000 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 35.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,466,560 shares of the company's stock valued at $107,879,000 after purchasing an additional 912,394 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 42.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,439,414 shares of the company's stock valued at $107,036,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,992,174 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,007,000 after purchasing an additional 225,987 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VRDN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $29.00 to $20.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $37.00 to $31.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Evercore set a $26.00 price objective on Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $39.00 price objective on Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $36.14.

Viridian Therapeutics Stock Up 4.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:VRDN opened at $16.71 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $15.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.92. Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.18 and a 12-month high of $34.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.03 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 15.15, a quick ratio of 15.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.90) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.06) by $0.16. Viridian Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 80.19% and a negative net margin of 490.31%.The firm had revenue of $0.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $0.04 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.87) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 95.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc acquired 1,176,470 shares of Viridian Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $17.00 per share, with a total value of $19,999,990.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 5,090,928 shares of the company's stock, valued at $86,545,776. This represents a 30.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

About Viridian Therapeutics

Viridian Therapeutics, Inc NASDAQ: VRDN is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of targeted antibody therapeutics for patients suffering from rare and serious diseases. The company's lead program, VRDN-001, is a fully human monoclonal antibody that antagonizes the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R), with an initial focus on thyroid eye disease (TED). By selectively inhibiting IGF-1R signaling, VRDN-001 aims to reduce inflammation and tissue remodeling associated with TED and related disorders.

In addition to VRDN-001, Viridian is advancing a second antibody program, VRDN-002, which targets complement-mediated pathways implicated in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

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