Allostery Investments LP Buys Shares of 441,686 Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. $PLRX

Key Points

• Allostery Investments LP made a new investment of $596,000 in Pliant Therapeutics, acquiring 441,686 shares, which represents 0.9% of its portfolio and positions PLRX as its 26th largest holding.
• Several institutional investors have increased their stakes in Pliant Therapeutics, including Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, which raised its holdings by 20%, and Aquatic Capital Management LLC, which increased by an impressive 1,299%.
• Pliant Therapeutics recently reported a quarterly EPS of ($0.71), missing estimates by $0.09, with analysts forecasting it will report an EPS of -3.64 for the current fiscal year.

Allostery Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 441,686 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $596,000. Pliant Therapeutics makes up 0.9% of Allostery Investments LP's holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Allostery Investments LP owned about 0.72% of Pliant Therapeutics at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 3,197,050 shares of the company's stock worth $42,105,000 after buying an additional 92,564 shares in the last quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $867,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 66.3% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,551,865 shares of the company's stock worth $33,608,000 after buying an additional 1,017,500 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,761,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $630,000. 97.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PLRX shares. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Pliant Therapeutics from $17.00 to $4.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pliant Therapeutics presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $8.19.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of PLRX traded up $0.23 on Friday, reaching $1.86. The stock had a trading volume of 3,425,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 865,742. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.18 million, a PE ratio of -0.55 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 12.99, a current ratio of 12.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1.51 and a 200 day moving average of $1.55. Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $1.10 and a twelve month high of $16.10.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.71) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.62) by ($0.09). Sell-side analysts expect that Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.64 EPS for the current year.

Pliant Therapeutics 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.