Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) have earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.50.

Separately, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 target price on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 8th.

Pliant Therapeutics Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ PLRX opened at $11.07 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 10.26, a current ratio of 10.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $673.61 million, a P/E ratio of -3.31 and a beta of 1.05. Pliant Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $10.22 and a 52-week high of $18.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $13.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.07.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.95) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.99) by $0.04. Equities research analysts expect that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.65 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PLRX. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $112,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $126,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 65.0% during the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 4,607 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $145,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at $342,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

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.