Piper Sandler Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Stock Price

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 - Free Report) had its target price reduced by Piper Sandler from $17.00 to $4.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of PLRX traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $1.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 630,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,743,765. The company has a market cap of $102.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.49 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 12.99 and a quick ratio of 12.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.27. Pliant Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $1.10 and a 52-week high of $16.10.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 307.1% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,958,433 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,272,000 after acquiring an additional 1,477,336 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Pliant Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Monaco Asset Management SAM purchased a new position in Pliant Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at approximately $815,000. Peapod Lane Capital LLC grew its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 39.2% during the second quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC now owns 893,730 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,037,000 after acquiring an additional 251,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 119.1% during 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 in the last quarter. 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.