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

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) had its price objective lowered by Citigroup from $4.00 to $1.50 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on PLRX. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Leerink Partners cut Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $2.00 in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pliant Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.31.

Pliant Therapeutics Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of PLRX opened at $1.58 on Tuesday. Pliant Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $1.26 and a fifty-two week high of $16.52. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $8.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.59. The firm has a market cap of $96.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.47 and a beta of 1.18.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Bernard Coulie sold 52,419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total transaction of $587,092.80. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total transaction of $178,483.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,369,449.60. The trade was a 7.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 91,855 shares of company stock valued at $1,026,628. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $14,761,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 139,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,838,000 after buying an additional 21,637 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 127,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,676,000 after acquiring an additional 15,635 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 18,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 4,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP raised its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 3,197,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,105,000 after acquiring an additional 92,564 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.