Royal Bank of Canada Trims Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Target Price to $45.00

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) had its price objective lowered by Royal Bank of Canada from $54.00 to $45.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. HC Wainwright restated a buy rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $45.67.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PLRX opened at $13.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $831.81 million, a P/E ratio of -4.94 and a beta of 1.19. Pliant Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $11.21 and a 1 year high of $24.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $14.32 and a 200-day moving average of $15.41. The company has a current ratio of 17.72, a quick ratio of 17.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. First Light Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 3,591,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,047,000 after purchasing an additional 658,516 shares in the last quarter. Laurion Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Laurion Capital Management LP now owns 3,186,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,254,000 after buying an additional 27,941 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,945,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,072,000 after buying an additional 168,454 shares during the period. Great Point Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Great Point Partners LLC now owns 1,823,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,018,000 after acquiring an additional 68,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc grew its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 1.5% in the third quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 1,665,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,871,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares during the period. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.