Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) Receives $13.31 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $13.31.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Leerink Partners cut shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Leerink Partnrs cut shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $1.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 13,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total transaction of $148,624.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 80,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $904,668.80. This represents a 14.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total value of $178,483.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 211,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,369,449.60. The trade was a 7.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 91,855 shares of company stock worth $1,026,628. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,209 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 95,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,260,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 11,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,000 after buying an additional 1,812 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 459,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,050,000 after acquiring an additional 2,721 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Up 2.3 %

PLRX opened at $1.34 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.92. The company has a market capitalization of $82.06 million, a PE ratio of -0.40 and a beta of 1.18. Pliant Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $1.24 and a 1-year high of $16.52. The company has a current ratio of 10.26, a quick ratio of 10.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported ($0.82) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.99) by $0.17. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.64 EPS for the current year.

Pliant Therapeutics Company Profile

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes novel therapies for the treatment of fibrosis and related diseases in the United States. The company's lead candidate is bexotegrast, an oral, small-molecule, dual selective inhibitor of avß6 and avß1 integrins, which is in phase 2b trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and in phase 2a trial for primary sclerosing cholangitis.