Viridian Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: VRDN) stock fell -3.66% on Wednesday to $23.97 against a previous-day closing price of $24.88. With 0.68 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained heavier than its average volume of 0.6 million shares. During the session, the Biotechnology company that operates in wider Healthcare sector, reached to the highest price of $25.03 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $23.63. The 52-week range on VRDN shows that it touched its highest point at $39.00 and its lowest point at $9.84 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $46.29. Beta for the stock currently stands at 1.01.
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Price Performance and Earnings:
Stock performance is one of the indicators that investors use to determine whether they will profit from a stock. The price performance of VRDN was up-trending over the past week, with a rise of 4.63%, but this was down by -15.06% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -28.64% while six-month performance rose 6.87%. The stock gained 78.08% in the past year, while it has lost -17.94% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for VRDN yields -4.66 with Next year EPS estimates of -4.77. For the next quarter, that number is -1.27. This implies an EPS growth rate of 39.30% for this year and 10.80% for next year.
Float and Shares Shorts:
At present, 42.24 million VRDN shares are outstanding with a float of 39.68 million shares on hand for trading. On Apr 27, 2023, short shares totaled 3.49 million, which was 8.09% higher than short shares on Mar 30, 2023. In addition to Mr. Kristian Humer M.B.A. as the firm’s CFO, Chief Bus. Officer, Principal Financial Officer & Principal Accounting Officer, Dr. Barrett Katz CMO, M.B.A., M.D., MBA serves as its Chief Medical Officer.
Institutional Ownership:
Through their ownership of 97.32% of VRDN’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 64.21% of VRDN, in contrast to 5.23% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 25.73%. As the largest shareholder in VRDN with 5.60% of the stake, SSgA Funds Management, Inc. holds 2,401,812 shares worth 2,401,812. A second-largest stockholder of VRDN, BlackRock Fund Advisors, holds 2,397,670 shares, controlling over 5.59% of the firm’s shares. Paradigm BioCapital Advisors LP is the third largest shareholder in VRDN, holding 2,310,698 shares or 5.39% stake. With a 3.55% stake in VRDN, the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF is the largest stakeholder. A total of 1,524,028 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, which owns about 2.75% of VRDN stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 1,180,189 shares valued at 33.08 million. iShares Russell 2000 ETF holds 1.89% of the stake in VRDN, owning 811,376 shares worth 22.74 million.
An Overview of Recent Financials:
Understanding a company as a customer does not mean you will understand it as an investor. The wise investor uses quantitative research to analyze metrics such as revenue, net income, and earnings. In its fiscal quarter reported on Mar 30, 2023, VRDN reported revenue of $256.00k and operating income of -$29.56M. The EBITDA in the recently reported quarter was -$29.28M and diluted EPS was -$1.06.
Analysts Ratings:
Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for VRDN since 0 analysts follow the stock currently. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With VRDN analysts setting a high price target of $57.00 and a low target of $40.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $46.29. Based on these targets, VRDN could surge 137.8% to reach the target high and rise by 66.88% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 93.12% from current levels.
EPS: Estimates vs Actual
It is also common to use earnings estimates to evaluate a firm’s growth potential and to determine trading strategy.
Summary of Insider Activity:
Insiders traded VRDN stock several times over the past three months with 2 Buys and 1 Sells. In these transactions, 9,500 shares were bought while 29,971 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 18 while that of sell transactions has risen to 16 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 873,778 while 298,718 shares were sold.
