Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.36) by $0.04, FiscalAI reports.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of PLRX stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $1.19. The company had a trading volume of 129,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 674,050. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $1.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.64 and a beta of 1.20. Pliant Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $1.09 and a 52 week high of $1.95.

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Woodline Partners LP lifted its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 1,875.0% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 2,514,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,394,000 after acquiring an additional 2,386,789 shares during the period. Prosight Management LP lifted its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 7,493.8% during the fourth quarter. Prosight Management LP now owns 1,555,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,898,000 after buying an additional 1,535,257 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 307.1% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,958,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,272,000 after buying an additional 1,477,336 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 260.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,080,128 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,318,000 after buying an additional 780,667 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 181.6% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 783,255 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after buying an additional 505,097 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PLRX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $3.00.

About Pliant Therapeutics

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ: PLRX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel therapies for fibrotic diseases. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, Pliant applies a precision medicine approach to target integrin-mediated signaling pathways implicated in the development and progression of fibrosis across organ systems.

The company’s lead product candidate, PLN-74809, is an oral small molecule designed to inhibit both αvβ1 and αvβ6 integrins in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).