Nuveen LLC Purchases New Position in Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. $PLRX

Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 233,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $315,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 1,557.6% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 59,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 55,637 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 42.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 68,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 20,449 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $99,000. Corton Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $138,000. Finally, HighMark Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 110.0% in the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 157,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $213,000 after purchasing an additional 82,500 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PLRX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $17.00 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Sunday, August 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.19.

Pliant Therapeutics Trading Up 14.1%

Shares of PLRX stock opened at $1.86 on Friday. Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $1.10 and a 12-month high of $16.10. The company has a current ratio of 12.99, a quick ratio of 12.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $1.51 and its 200 day moving average is $1.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.19 million, a P/E ratio of -0.55 and a beta of 1.43.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last issued its earnings results 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). Research analysts expect that Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

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.