HC Wainwright Reaffirms Neutral Rating for Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX)

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on PLRX. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 target price (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $40.00 to $4.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.31.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Up 1.1 %

PLRX stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $1.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,507,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 794,361. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 10.26 and a quick ratio of 10.26. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $9.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.89 million, a P/E ratio of -0.42 and a beta of 1.03. Pliant Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $1.29 and a twelve month high of $16.81.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported ($0.82) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.99) by $0.17. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.64 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 10,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.99, for a total transaction of $112,427.70. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 70,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,278.56. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,369,449.60. The trade was a 7.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 91,855 shares of company stock valued at $1,026,628 over the last ninety days. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 1,299.0% during the 4th quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 5,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 5,196 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $99,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $108,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in Pliant Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $112,000. 97.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.