Jennison Associates LLC Sells 1,126,021 Shares of Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. $VRDN

Key Points

• Jennison Associates LLC sharply reduced its Viridian Therapeutics stake by 97.6% in the first quarter, selling more than 1.1 million shares and ending with just 28,059 shares valued at about $549,000.
• Insider buying was significant: Director Fairmount Funds Management bought 1,176,470 shares at $17 each, lifting its ownership by about 30% and bringing its total stake to over 5.09 million shares.
• Analysts remain mostly bullish on VRDN, with 13 Buy ratings and a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating; the average price target is $38.79, well above the recent share price around $19.26.

Jennison Associates LLC cut its stake in Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN - Free Report) by 97.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,059 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,126,021 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC's holdings in Viridian Therapeutics were worth $549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd bought a new position in Viridian Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viridian Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at about $52,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 23.2% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,457 shares of the company's stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. bought a new position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $147,000. Finally, Persistent Asset Partners Ltd bought a new position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $176,000.

Insider Transactions at Viridian Therapeutics

In other news, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc bought 1,176,470 shares of Viridian Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $17.00 per share, with a total value of $19,999,990.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 5,090,928 shares in the company, valued at $86,545,776. The trade was a 30.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Viridian Therapeutics Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of VRDN opened at $19.26 on Friday. Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $13.18 and a 1-year high of $34.29. The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.80 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 15.15 and a quick ratio of 15.15. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $17.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.48.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.90) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.06) by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $0.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $0.04 million. Viridian Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 490.31% and a negative return on equity of 80.19%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 95.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.87) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VRDN shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. HC Wainwright reduced their price target on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $34.00 to $22.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Viridian Therapeutics from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $31.00 in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Viridian Therapeutics from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viridian Therapeutics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $38.79.

Viridian Therapeutics Company Profile

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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