Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Stock Rating Raised to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Pliant Therapeutics from “sell” to “hold,” while Weiss Ratings maintained a “sell (e+)” rating. The stock has an overall “Reduce” consensus rating and a $3.00 target price.
• PLRX opened at $1.08, near its 52-week low of $1.02, with a market capitalization of approximately $66.9 million. The company reported a quarterly loss of $0.36 per share, missing estimates by $0.02.
• Institutional investors own 97.3% of Pliant’s shares, with ADAR1 Capital Management making a notable $6.3 million investment in the second quarter. The clinical-stage biotech is developing bexotegrast and other therapies for fibrotic diseases.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Friday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $3.00.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

PLRX opened at $1.08 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $66.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.72 and a beta of 1.27. Pliant Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $1.02 and a 1-year high of $1.95. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1.18.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.36) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Equities analysts expect that Pliant Therapeutics will post -1.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLRX. Spark Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $38,000. Stonepine Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth $262,813. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Finally, ADAR1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth $6,281,000. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pliant Therapeutics Company Profile

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing therapies for fibrotic diseases. The company's research centers on integrins, cell-surface proteins that regulate biological processes involved in tissue repair and fibrosis. Pliant seeks to develop medicines that address fibrosis in organs including the lungs and liver.

Pliant's lead investigational product is bexotegrast, an oral small-molecule inhibitor designed to selectively target the alphaV beta6 and alphaV beta1 integrins.

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