Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Shares of Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) have been given a consensus rating of “Reduce” by the five brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $3.00.

Several brokerages recently commented on PLRX. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rangeley Capital LLC lifted its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rangeley Capital LLC now owns 60,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 10,220 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 113,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 15,349 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 17.7% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 104,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 15,692 shares during the period. Eversept Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Eversept Partners LP now owns 842,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after purchasing an additional 17,429 shares during the period. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 139.4% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 31,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 18,300 shares during the last quarter. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PLRX opened at $1.08 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $1.16 and its 200 day moving average is $1.23. Pliant Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $1.05 and a 1 year high of $1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.87 million, a P/E ratio of -0.59 and a beta of 1.21.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.36) by $0.04. On average, analysts expect that Pliant Therapeutics will post -1.31 EPS for the current year.

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).