Viridian Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: VRDN) stock jumped 0.06% on Friday to $17.53 against a previous-day closing price of $17.52. With 1.3 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained heavier than its average volume of 0.76 million shares. During the session, the Biotechnology company that operates in wider Healthcare sector, reached to the highest price of $17.70 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $17.23. The 52-week range on VRDN shows that it touched its highest point at $39.00 and its lowest point at $16.40 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $44.00. Beta for the stock currently stands at 0.94.
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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 down-trending over the past week, with a drop of -3.58%, but this was down by -9.83% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -37.10% while six-month performance fell -38.71%. The stock lost -23.78% in the past year, while it has lost -39.99% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for VRDN yields -4.87 with Next year EPS estimates of -4.89. For the next quarter, that number is -1.24. This implies an EPS growth rate of 39.30% for this year and 8.90% for next year.
Float and Shares Shorts:
At present, 43.25 million VRDN shares are outstanding with a float of 41.25 million shares on hand for trading. On Aug 30, 2023, short shares totaled 9.46 million, which was 21.66% higher than short shares on Jul 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 100.66% of VRDN’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 67.66% of VRDN, in contrast to 5.21% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 30.01%. As the largest shareholder in VRDN with 6.68% of the stake, SSgA Funds Management, Inc. holds 2,918,369 shares worth 2,918,369. A second-largest stockholder of VRDN, BlackRock Fund Advisors, holds 2,732,979 shares, controlling over 6.26% of the firm’s shares. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is the third largest shareholder in VRDN, holding 2,499,298 shares or 5.72% stake. With a 4.82% stake in VRDN, the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF is the largest stakeholder. A total of 2,106,821 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The Polar Capital Funds Plc – Biotech, which owns about 3.44% of VRDN stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 1,500,000 shares valued at 27.25 million. Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF holds 3.16% of the stake in VRDN, owning 1,378,789 shares worth 25.05 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 Jun 29, 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 $35.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $43.44. Based on these targets, VRDN could surge 225.16% to reach the target high and rise by 99.66% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 147.8% 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 0 Buys and 0 Sells. In these transactions, 0 shares were bought while 0 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 22 while that of sell transactions has risen to 20 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 458,043 while 278,514 shares were sold.
