Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) was downgraded by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $4.00 in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research note on Monday. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $38.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $4.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 price target (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Monday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.75.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Performance

Pliant Therapeutics stock opened at $2.61 on Monday. Pliant Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $2.60 and a fifty-two week high of $18.00. The company has a market capitalization of $158.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.78 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $12.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 10.26 and a current ratio of 10.26.

Insider Transactions at Pliant Therapeutics

In other news, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 10,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.99, for a total transaction of $112,427.70. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 70,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,278.56. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Bernard Coulie sold 52,419 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total transaction of $587,092.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 430,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,821,790.40. This trade represents a 10.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 91,855 shares of company stock valued at $1,026,628 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $108,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 100,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after purchasing an additional 9,944 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 95,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,260,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. grew its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 900,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,854,000 after purchasing an additional 66,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 11,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,812 shares in 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.