Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Price Target Lowered to $4.00 at Piper Sandler

Key Points

• Piper Sandler has significantly lowered its price target for Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PLRX) from $17.00 to $4.00, indicating a possible upside of 138.10% from the current price.
• Despite the price target reduction, Pliant Therapeutics retains an "overweight" rating from Piper Sandler, and the stock currently trades around $1.68.
• The company recently reported a quarterly loss of ($0.71) earnings per share, which missed analysts' expectations of (0.62), while institutional investors hold approximately 97.30% of its shares.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX - Get Free Report) had its price objective reduced by equities researchers at Piper Sandler from $17.00 to $4.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Piper Sandler's price target points to a potential upside of 138.10% from the stock's current price.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Down 0.6%

PLRX stock opened at $1.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.14 million, a P/E ratio of -0.47 and a beta of 1.42. Pliant Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $1.10 and a 52 week high of $16.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $1.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.52.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.71) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by ($0.09). On average, analysts expect that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PLRX. Monaco Asset Management SAM purchased a new position in Pliant Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $815,000. Peapod Lane Capital LLC raised its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 39.2% during the 2nd quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC now owns 893,730 shares of the company's stock worth $1,037,000 after acquiring an additional 251,537 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 119.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 35,540 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 19,320 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 6.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 475,877 shares of the company's stock valued at $642,000 after acquiring an additional 29,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $1,642,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.30% of the company's stock.

About Pliant Therapeutics

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.

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