Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.50.

PLRX has been the subject of several analyst reports. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Friday, November 8th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Pliant Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Leerink Partners started coverage on Pliant Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of PLRX opened at $13.56 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $13.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.90. The company has a quick ratio of 10.26, a current ratio of 10.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Pliant Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $10.22 and a twelve month high of $19.62. The company has a market cap of $825.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.06 and a beta of 1.05.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PLRX. Great Point Partners LLC increased its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 42.4% in the 2nd quarter. Great Point Partners LLC now owns 2,636,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,346,000 after buying an additional 785,000 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,318,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,781,000 after acquiring an additional 31,221 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 1.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,039,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,657,000 after acquiring an additional 14,913 shares during the period. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. raised its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 52.0% during the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 833,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,957,000 after purchasing an additional 285,216 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.