Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) Receives $3.93 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) has been given a consensus rating of “Reduce” by the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $3.9286.

PLRX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Sunday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen raised Pliant Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $17.00 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, October 10th.

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at $543,000. Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 91.8% in the third quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 4,504,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,667,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156,291 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd grew its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 466,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $691,000 after purchasing an additional 37,974 shares during the period. Voleon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth about $221,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 47.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 708,056 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,048,000 after acquiring an additional 227,526 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

Pliant Therapeutics stock opened at $1.56 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $1.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.51. Pliant Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $1.10 and a 1 year high of $15.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 13.93 and a current ratio of 13.94. The company has a market cap of $95.86 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.54 and a beta of 1.41.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.43) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by $0.10. Sell-side analysts predict that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

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.