HC Wainwright Reiterates “Neutral” Rating for Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX)

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

A number of other research firms also recently commented on PLRX. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Leerink Partners downgraded Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $2.00 in a report on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 target price (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.31.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PLRX opened at $1.52 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 market cap of $92.50 million, a PE ratio of -0.46 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.66. Pliant Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $1.26 and a fifty-two week high of $16.52.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last released its 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 analysts expect that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 10,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.99, for a total value of $112,427.70. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 70,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,278.56. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Bernard Coulie sold 52,419 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total value of $587,092.80. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 91,855 shares of company stock worth $1,026,628 over the last three months. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 1,299.0% in the 4th quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 5,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 5,196 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $99,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $108,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $112,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.