Candriam S.C.A. Increases Stock Holdings in Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX)

Candriam S.C.A. grew its position in Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 900,104 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 66,888 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A. owned 1.48% of Pliant Therapeutics worth $11,854,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at $112,000. State Street Corp increased its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,402,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,725,000 after purchasing an additional 26,610 shares in the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. increased its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 265.2% during the 3rd quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 170,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,908,000 after purchasing an additional 123,600 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,318,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,781,000 after purchasing an additional 31,221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 6,579 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PLRX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Leerink Partners cut Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Leerink Partnrs cut Pliant Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, February 10th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.31.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PLRX opened at $1.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $98.58 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.49 and a beta of 1.18. Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $1.26 and a 12-month high of $16.52. The company has a current ratio of 10.26, a quick ratio of 10.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $8.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.50.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported ($0.82) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.99) by $0.17. On average, research analysts forecast that Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 10,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.99, for a total transaction of $112,427.70. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 70,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,278.56. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total value of $178,483.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,369,449.60. This trade represents a 7.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 91,855 shares of company stock valued at $1,026,628 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Pliant Therapeutics 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.