Pliant Therapeutics’ (PLRX) “Market Perform” Rating Reaffirmed at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer restated their market perform rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on PLRX. HC Wainwright cut shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $4.00 in a research report on Monday. Citigroup cut Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $40.00 to $4.00 in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $4.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Pliant Therapeutics from $38.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.75.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Up 4.2 %

Shares of PLRX stock opened at $2.72 on Monday. Pliant Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $2.43 and a 12 month high of $18.00. The company has a quick ratio of 10.26, a current ratio of 10.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market cap of $165.52 million, a PE ratio of -0.81 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $12.18 and a 200-day moving average of $12.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pliant Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Bernard Coulie sold 52,419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total value of $587,092.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 430,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,821,790.40. The trade was a 10.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total transaction of $178,483.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 211,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,369,449.60. This trade represents a 7.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 91,855 shares of company stock worth $1,026,628 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,402,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,725,000 after acquiring an additional 26,610 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 2.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,318,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,781,000 after purchasing an additional 31,221 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,045,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,770,000 after purchasing an additional 5,673 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. increased its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 900,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,854,000 after buying an additional 66,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fernwood Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 3.4% in the third quarter. Fernwood Investment Management LLC now owns 513,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,752,000 after buying an additional 16,850 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

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.