Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) Receives $8.19 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $8.1875.

Several research analysts have commented on PLRX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Pliant Therapeutics from $17.00 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Sunday, August 10th.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Pliant Therapeutics stock opened at $1.78 on Wednesday. Pliant Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $1.10 and a twelve month high of $16.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.27 million, a P/E ratio of -0.52 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 12.99, a quick ratio of 12.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $1.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.50.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.71) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by ($0.09). As a group, research analysts anticipate that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PLRX. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 9.2% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 110,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,000 after buying an additional 9,244 shares during the period. Rangeley Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 20.4% during the second quarter. Rangeley Capital LLC now owns 60,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 10,220 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 139.4% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 31,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 18,300 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 119.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 35,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 19,320 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 42.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 68,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,000 after buying an additional 20,449 shares during the period. 97.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.