Q1 EPS Estimate for Pliant Therapeutics Lifted by Analyst

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) – Research analysts at HC Wainwright raised their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, March 4th. HC Wainwright analyst E. Arce now expects that the company will post earnings per share of ($0.86) for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of ($0.95). HC Wainwright currently has a “Neutral” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Pliant Therapeutics’ current full-year earnings is ($3.64) per share. HC Wainwright also issued estimates for Pliant Therapeutics’ Q2 2025 earnings at ($0.50) EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at ($0.51) EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at ($0.65) EPS, FY2025 earnings at ($2.49) EPS, FY2026 earnings at ($2.71) EPS, FY2027 earnings at ($1.47) EPS and FY2028 earnings at $0.04 EPS.

PLRX has been the topic of several other research reports. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 target price (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Leerink Partners cut Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $2.00 in a report on Monday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.31.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Up 3.9 %

Shares of PLRX opened at $1.58 on Friday. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $8.35 and a 200 day moving average of $11.59. The company has a market cap of $96.15 million, a PE ratio of -0.47 and a beta of 1.18. Pliant Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $1.26 and a 52-week high of $16.52.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported ($0.82) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.99) by $0.17.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 233.8% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 91,979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,031,000 after buying an additional 64,422 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc bought a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $112,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,402,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,725,000 after acquiring an additional 26,610 shares during the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. lifted its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 265.2% during the third quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 170,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,908,000 after acquiring an additional 123,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 2.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,318,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,781,000 after acquiring an additional 31,221 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pliant Therapeutics news, CEO Bernard Coulie sold 52,419 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total value of $587,092.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 430,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,821,790.40. This represents a 10.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 13,270 shares of Pliant Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were 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 $904,668.80. The trade was a 14.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 91,855 shares of company stock valued at $1,026,628 over the last quarter. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.