Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 162,665 Shares of Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRDN - Free Report) by 1,603.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 172,810 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 162,665 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.27% of Viridian Therapeutics worth $3,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Maverick Capital Ltd. increased its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 22.9% during the second quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,307,945 shares of the company's stock worth $43,036,000 after buying an additional 615,531 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,234,279 shares of the company's stock worth $56,632,000 after acquiring an additional 233,331 shares in the last quarter. Novo Holdings A S lifted its stake in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. Novo Holdings A S now owns 2,385,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $54,259,000 after purchasing an additional 385,000 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. boosted its position in shares of Viridian Therapeutics by 167.8% during the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 749,804 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,754,000 after purchasing an additional 469,804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Viridian Therapeutics by 1,014.7% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 228,182 shares of the company's stock worth $2,969,000 after purchasing an additional 207,711 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on VRDN. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $28.00 price target (down from $31.00) on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a report on Monday, August 12th. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on shares of Viridian Therapeutics from $27.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $44.00 target price on shares of Viridian Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their target price on Viridian Therapeutics from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $36.33.

Viridian Therapeutics Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of VRDN stock traded up $0.58 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $20.20. The company had a trading volume of 858,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,120,956. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.16. Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $11.40 and a 12 month high of $27.20. The company has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.69 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 18.55 and a quick ratio of 18.55.

Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($1.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.11) by ($0.04). Viridian Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 70.12% and a negative net margin of 85,127.16%. The firm had revenue of $0.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $0.08 million. On average, research analysts expect that Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. will post -4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc purchased 1,600,000 shares of Viridian Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $18.75 per share, for a total transaction of $30,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,445,813 shares in the company, valued at $64,608,993.75. This trade represents a 86.68 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Thomas W. Beetham purchased 5,000 shares of Viridian Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.41 per share, with a total value of $117,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,460. This represents a 500.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 1,626,400 shares of company stock valued at $30,616,312 in the last 90 days. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.