Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Price Target Cut to $3.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) had its target price cut by Royal Bank of Canada from $4.00 to $3.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on PLRX. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Leerink Partners downgraded Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $2.00 in a report on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $4.00 price objective (down from $43.00) on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup downgraded Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $4.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.31.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of PLRX opened at $1.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.15 million, a P/E ratio of -0.40 and a beta of 1.03. Pliant Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $1.27 and a 12-month high of $16.73. The company has a current ratio of 10.26, a quick ratio of 10.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $8.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.73.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported ($0.82) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.99) by $0.17. Equities research analysts expect that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,369,449.60. This represents a 7.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 10,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.99, for a total value of $112,427.70. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 70,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,278.56. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 91,855 shares of company stock worth $1,026,628. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 1,299.0% in the fourth quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 5,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 5,196 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $99,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $108,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc purchased a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $112,000. Hedge funds and other 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.