Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating 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 decreased their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $45.00 to $4.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $40.00 to $4.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $4.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.88.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PLRX opened at $1.38 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 10.26, a current ratio of 10.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Pliant Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $1.37 and a fifty-two week high of $16.81. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.81. The stock has a market cap of $83.98 million, a PE ratio of -0.41 and a beta of 1.03.

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. Analysts expect that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pliant Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Bernard Coulie sold 52,419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 430,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,821,790.40. This trade represents a 10.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $178,483.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 91,855 shares of company stock worth $1,026,628. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PLRX. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 3,197,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,105,000 after buying an additional 92,564 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 66.3% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,551,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,608,000 after purchasing an additional 1,017,500 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,402,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,725,000 after purchasing an additional 26,610 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 2.4% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Silverarc Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $17,326,000. 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.