Leerink Partnrs Issues Positive Outlook for PLRX Earnings

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) – Research analysts at Leerink Partnrs boosted their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for Pliant Therapeutics in a report released on Monday, March 3rd. Leerink Partnrs analyst F. Khurshid now expects that the company will earn ($1.00) per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of ($1.01). Leerink Partnrs has a “Hold” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Pliant Therapeutics’ current full-year earnings is ($3.64) per share. Leerink Partnrs also issued estimates for Pliant Therapeutics’ Q2 2025 earnings at ($0.55) EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at ($0.51) EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at ($0.47) EPS, FY2025 earnings at ($2.53) EPS and FY2026 earnings at ($2.14) EPS.

PLRX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Leerink Partners cut shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Monday. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $1.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Pliant Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.31.

Pliant Therapeutics Trading Up 3.9 %

PLRX stock opened at $1.58 on Thursday. 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 $1.26 and a twelve month high of $16.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.47 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.59.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported ($0.82) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.99) by $0.17.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. bought a new position in Pliant Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $14,761,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 139,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,838,000 after acquiring an additional 21,637 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 127,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,676,000 after acquiring an additional 15,635 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 18,931 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 4,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP grew its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Paradigm Biocapital Advisors LP now owns 3,197,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,105,000 after acquiring an additional 92,564 shares in the last quarter. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Pliant Therapeutics

In other news, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 10,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.99, for a total value of $112,427.70. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 70,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,278.56. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total transaction of $178,483.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,369,449.60. The trade was a 7.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 91,855 shares of company stock worth $1,026,628. Insiders own 6.40% 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.