HC Wainwright Reiterates Buy Rating for Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX)

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $38.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 159.74% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 target price on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Leerink Partners started coverage on Pliant Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Pliant Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Pliant Therapeutics from $48.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.57.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of PLRX traded down $0.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $14.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 114,873 shares, compared to its average volume of 448,709. Pliant Therapeutics has a one year low of $10.22 and a one year high of $19.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 14.47 and a current ratio of 14.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $889.52 million, a PE ratio of -4.73 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $12.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.69.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.92) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by ($0.07). As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.71 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLRX. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Pliant Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at about $107,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 9.1% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 1,203 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 13.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,478,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,827,000 after acquiring an additional 412,486 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 99.8% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 20,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,000 after acquiring an additional 9,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 50.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,377,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,522,000 after acquiring an additional 464,860 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

About Pliant Therapeutics

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.