Pliant Therapeutics’ (PLRX) “Neutral” Rating Reiterated at Cantor Fitzgerald

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on PLRX. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Leerink Partners lowered shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $2.00 in a report on Monday. Citigroup downgraded shares of 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, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.75.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ:PLRX opened at $1.45 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 10.26 and a current ratio of 10.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $9.08 and a 200-day moving average of $11.81. Pliant Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $1.37 and a 52 week high of $16.81. The company has a market capitalization of $88.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.42 and a beta of 1.03.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last announced 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 research analysts anticipate that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 13,270 shares of Pliant Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 80,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $904,668.80. The trade was a 14.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were 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 owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,369,449.60. This trade represents a 7.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 91,855 shares of company stock valued at $1,026,628. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PLRX. Silverarc Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Pliant Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $17,326,000. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $14,761,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 66.3% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,551,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,608,000 after purchasing an additional 1,017,500 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,556,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 300.8% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 197,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,598,000 after purchasing an additional 148,039 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.