Citigroup Lowers Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Price Target to $1.50

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Citigroup from $4.00 to $1.50 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 1.32% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $10.00 target price on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday. Leerink Partners cut Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $33.00 to $2.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, Pliant Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.31.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Performance

Pliant Therapeutics stock opened at $1.52 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.66. 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 12-month low of $1.26 and a 12-month high of $16.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.46 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Insider Transactions at Pliant Therapeutics

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 233.8% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 91,979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,031,000 after purchasing an additional 64,422 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc bought a new position in Pliant Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $112,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $388,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $145,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 4.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 456,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,119,000 after acquiring an additional 19,281 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.