Oppenheimer Reiterates Market Perform Rating for Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX)

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating restated by analysts at Oppenheimer in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $4.00 in a report on Monday. Citigroup downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $40.00 to $4.00 in a report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $38.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $4.00 price objective (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Monday. Finally, HC Wainwright cut Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.75.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of PLRX opened at $2.61 on Monday. Pliant Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $2.60 and a 52-week high of $18.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 10.26 and a current ratio of 10.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.78 and a beta of 1.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 13,270 shares of Pliant Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total value of $148,624.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 80,774 shares in the company, valued at $904,668.80. This trade represents a 14.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Bernard Coulie sold 52,419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total transaction of $587,092.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 430,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders sold a total of 91,855 shares of company stock valued at $1,026,628 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,402,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,725,000 after acquiring an additional 26,610 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 2.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,318,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,781,000 after purchasing an additional 31,221 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 1.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,039,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,657,000 after purchasing an additional 14,913 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. grew its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 900,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,854,000 after purchasing an additional 66,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fernwood Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 3.4% in the third quarter. Fernwood Investment Management LLC now owns 513,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,752,000 after buying an additional 16,850 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

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.