Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Cut to “Neutral” at Citigroup

Citigroup lowered shares of Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. Citigroup currently has $4.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $40.00.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on PLRX. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $4.00 in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $4.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, HC Wainwright cut Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.75.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of PLRX opened at $2.72 on Monday. Pliant Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $2.43 and a 1 year high of $18.00. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.79. The company has a market capitalization of $165.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.81 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 10.26 and a current ratio of 10.26.

Insider Transactions at Pliant Therapeutics

In other news, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 10,230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.99, for a total value of $112,427.70. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the firm’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 $178,483.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,369,449.60. This represents a 7.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 91,855 shares of company stock worth $1,026,628 in the last three months. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLRX. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 1.4% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 83,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $897,000 after buying an additional 1,191 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 233.8% during the 3rd 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 period. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in Pliant Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $112,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,402,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,725,000 after acquiring an additional 26,610 shares during the period. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 265.2% in 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 in the last quarter. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.