Voleon Capital Management LP Makes New $97,000 Investment in Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. $PLRX

Voleon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 72,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,000. Voleon Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.12% of Pliant Therapeutics at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PLRX. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 1,557.6% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 59,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 55,637 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 68,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 20,449 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at about $97,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $99,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 110,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,000 after purchasing an additional 9,244 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PLRX shares. 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 report on Friday, August 8th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Sunday, August 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pliant Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.19.

Pliant Therapeutics Trading Down 3.4%

NASDAQ PLRX opened at $1.69 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.75 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.50 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $1.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 12.99 and a current ratio of 12.99. Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $1.10 and a 52 week high of $16.10.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last released its earnings results 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, analysts anticipate that Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.