Octagon Capital Advisors LP Reduces Stake in Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. $VRDN

Key Points

• Octagon Capital Advisors LP reduced its stake in Viridian Therapeutics by 48.3%, now holding 450,000 shares, making it the firm's 27th largest position.
• Shares opened at $19.81, with a market cap of $1.62 billion and a PE ratio of -5.17.
• Analysts have varying price targets for VRDN, with Oppenheimer raising theirs to $32.00 and Jefferies initially setting a target at $44.00, while the consensus target stands at $37.78.

Octagon Capital Advisors LP reduced its holdings in Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN - Free Report) by 48.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 450,000 shares of the company's stock after selling 420,000 shares during the quarter. Viridian Therapeutics accounts for about 0.6% of Octagon Capital Advisors LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Octagon Capital Advisors LP owned 0.55% of Viridian Therapeutics worth $6,066,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 49.7% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,531 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Viridian Therapeutics by 3,892.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,425 shares of the company's stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 8,214 shares during the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Viridian Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $258,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Viridian Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth approximately $185,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 74.1% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 20,584 shares of the company's stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 8,761 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRDN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, August 25th. They set a "buy" rating and a $44.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Viridian Therapeutics from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Viridian Therapeutics from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Viridian Therapeutics from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $37.78.

Viridian Therapeutics Trading Down 4.0%

VRDN stock traded down $0.78 during trading on Friday, hitting $18.87. 448,146 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 833,731. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.84 and a 200-day moving average of $15.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 11.01 and a current ratio of 11.01. Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $9.90 and a 1 year high of $27.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a PE ratio of -4.93 and a beta of 0.53.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($1.00) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($1.00). Viridian Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 78.95% and a negative net margin of 112,806.88%.The firm had revenue of $0.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.81) earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. will post -4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.