Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on PLRX. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $4.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. HC Wainwright downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down from $43.00) on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $4.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Pliant Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.31.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of PLRX stock opened at $1.52 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 10.26 and a quick ratio of 10.26. The company has a market capitalization of $92.50 million, a P/E ratio of -0.46 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.66. Pliant Therapeutics has a one year low of $1.26 and a one year high of $16.52.

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

Insider Activity at Pliant Therapeutics

In other Pliant Therapeutics news, 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 value of $178,483.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 211,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,369,449.60. This trade represents a 7.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 10,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.99, for a total transaction of $112,427.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 70,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,278.56. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 91,855 shares of company stock valued at $1,026,628 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 1,299.0% during the fourth quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 5,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 5,196 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $99,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $108,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $112,000. Hedge funds and other 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.