Royal Bank of Canada Has Lowered Expectations for Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Stock Price

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) had its target price trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $4.00 to $3.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Leerink Partners cut Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Monday. HC Wainwright cut Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup cut Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $4.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.31.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Up 3.9 %

Shares of Pliant Therapeutics stock opened at $1.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.15 million, a P/E ratio of -0.47 and a beta of 1.18. 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 50 day moving average price of $8.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.59. Pliant Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $1.26 and a 12-month high of $16.52.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported ($0.82) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.99) by $0.17. Equities analysts expect that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Pliant Therapeutics

In other Pliant Therapeutics news, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total transaction of $178,483.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,369,449.60. This represents a 7.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 10,230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.99, for a total value of $112,427.70. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 70,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,278.56. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 91,855 shares of company stock worth $1,026,628. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. acquired a new position in Pliant Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $14,761,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 139,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,838,000 after acquiring an additional 21,637 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 127,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,676,000 after acquiring an additional 15,635 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 18,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 4,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP raised its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 3,197,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,105,000 after acquiring an additional 92,564 shares in the last quarter. 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.