Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Earns Hold Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX)‘s stock had its “hold” rating restated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $10.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on PLRX. Citigroup cut Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $4.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Leerink Partners lowered shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.88.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PLRX opened at $1.38 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $9.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.81. Pliant Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $1.37 and a twelve month high of $16.81. The company has a quick ratio of 10.26, a current ratio of 10.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.98 million, a PE ratio of -0.41 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Pliant Therapeutics

In other news, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 13,270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total value of $148,624.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 80,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $904,668.80. The trade was a 14.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 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 $178,483.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 211,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,369,449.60. This represents a 7.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 91,855 shares of company stock worth $1,026,628 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 233.8% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 91,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,031,000 after purchasing an additional 64,422 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $112,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth $388,000. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $145,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $5,119,000 after acquiring an additional 19,281 shares during the last quarter. 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.