Needham & Company LLC Cuts Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Price Target to $10.00

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) had its price target reduced by Needham & Company LLC from $38.00 to $10.00 in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. HC Wainwright cut shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $41.00 to $4.00 in a research report on Monday. Citigroup downgraded Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $4.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $4.00 in a report on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.75.

Pliant Therapeutics Trading Up 4.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PLRX opened at $2.72 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 10.26, a current ratio of 10.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Pliant Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $2.43 and a 52-week high of $18.00. The stock has a market cap of $165.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.81 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $12.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.79.

Insider Transactions at Pliant Therapeutics

In related news, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 10,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.99, for a total value of $112,427.70. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total transaction of $178,483.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,369,449.60. The trade was a 7.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 91,855 shares of company stock valued at $1,026,628 in the last three months. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Pliant Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $108,000. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in Pliant Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at $112,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $145,000. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.