Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) Receives $3.00 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) have received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the five research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $3.00.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pliant Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 12th.

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PLRX. Tang Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Tang Capital Management LLC now owns 6,143,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,495,000 after buying an additional 139,686 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 91.8% during the 3rd quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 4,504,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,667,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156,291 shares during the period. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 3,402.0% during the 1st quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 2,585,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,257,000 after acquiring an additional 2,511,307 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,130,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,153,000 after acquiring an additional 172,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Monaco Asset Management SAM raised its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 135.7% in the 4th quarter. Monaco Asset Management SAM now owns 1,938,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116,054 shares during the period. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Pliant Therapeutics stock opened at $1.17 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.24. The stock has a market cap of $72.45 million, a PE ratio of -0.64 and a beta of 1.21. Pliant Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $1.09 and a 12 month high of $1.95.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.36) by $0.04. Analysts expect that Pliant Therapeutics will post -1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pliant Therapeutics Company Profile

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ: PLRX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel therapies for fibrotic diseases. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, Pliant applies a precision medicine approach to target integrin-mediated signaling pathways implicated in the development and progression of fibrosis across organ systems.

The company’s lead product candidate, PLN-74809, is an oral small molecule designed to inhibit both αvβ1 and αvβ6 integrins in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).