Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX)

Cantor Fitzgerald reissued their neutral rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) in a research report report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports.

PLRX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, February 10th. HC Wainwright lowered Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup lowered Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $40.00 to $4.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.31.

Pliant Therapeutics Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of PLRX stock opened at $1.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.15 million, a PE ratio of -0.40 and a beta of 1.03. Pliant Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $1.27 and a 1-year high of $16.73. The business has a 50-day moving average of $8.84 and a 200 day moving average of $11.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 10.26 and a quick ratio of 10.26.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last issued its earnings results 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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Pliant Therapeutics

In other Pliant Therapeutics news, 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 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 trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Bernard Coulie sold 52,419 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 value of $587,092.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 430,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,821,790.40. This represents a 10.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 91,855 shares of company stock valued at $1,026,628. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Silverarc Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $17,326,000. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $14,761,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 66.3% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,551,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,608,000 after buying an additional 1,017,500 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $8,556,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 300.8% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 197,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,598,000 after buying an additional 148,039 shares during the last quarter. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.