Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Downgraded by Leerink Partnrs to Hold

Leerink Partnrs lowered shares of Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on PLRX. Leerink Partners lowered shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $2.00 in a report on Monday. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $10.00 price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Pliant Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.31.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Down 2.2 %

PLRX stock opened at $1.35 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $8.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.15 million, a P/E ratio of -0.40 and a beta of 1.03. Pliant Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $1.27 and a 12 month high of $16.73. The company has a current ratio of 10.26, a quick ratio of 10.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Pliant Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Bernard Coulie sold 52,419 shares of Pliant Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total transaction of $587,092.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 430,517 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 13,270 shares of Pliant Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total value of $148,624.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 80,774 shares in the company, 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 91,855 shares of company stock worth $1,026,628. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 5,196 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $99,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $108,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc bought a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $112,000. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.