Citigroup Cuts Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Price Target to $1.50

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) had its price objective decreased by stock analysts at Citigroup from $4.00 to $1.50 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s target price suggests a potential upside of 7.53% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on PLRX. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 price objective (down from $43.00) on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Monday, February 10th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating and set a $10.00 price target on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pliant Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.31.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

PLRX stock traded up $0.02 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $1.40. The stock had a trading volume of 3,507,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 794,361. Pliant Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $1.29 and a 1-year high of $16.81. The stock has a market cap of $84.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.42 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $9.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 10.26 and a current ratio of 10.26.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last issued its quarterly 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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 10,230 shares of the business’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 owns 70,544 shares in the company, valued at $775,278.56. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total transaction of $178,483.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 211,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,369,449.60. This represents a 7.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 91,855 shares of company stock worth $1,026,628. Corporate insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Silverarc Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Pliant Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $17,326,000. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. acquired a new position in Pliant Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $14,761,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 66.3% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,551,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,608,000 after purchasing an additional 1,017,500 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,556,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew 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 valued at $2,598,000 after purchasing an additional 148,039 shares during the period. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.