Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Lowered to “Neutral” Rating by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Monday, MarketBeat reports.

PLRX has been the subject of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC cut 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 report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $4.00 in a research report on Monday. HC Wainwright cut Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $41.00 to $4.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Monday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.75.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

Pliant Therapeutics stock opened at $2.72 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $12.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.79. The firm has a market cap of $165.52 million, a PE ratio of -0.81 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 10.26 and a quick ratio of 10.26. Pliant Therapeutics has a one year low of $2.43 and a one year high of $18.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 10,230 shares of Pliant Therapeutics 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 owns 70,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,278.56. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,369,449.60. This represents a 7.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 91,855 shares of company stock worth $1,026,628 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PLRX. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Pliant Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $108,000. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $112,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 65.0% in the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 4,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $145,000. 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.