Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Friday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $3.00.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PLRX opened at $1.10 on Friday. Pliant Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $1.02 and a 1 year high of $1.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.11 million, a PE ratio of -0.74 and a beta of 1.24.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.36) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by ($0.02). Equities research analysts expect that Pliant Therapeutics will post -1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Monaco Asset Management SAM raised its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 135.7% during the fourth quarter. Monaco Asset Management SAM now owns 1,938,747 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116,054 shares in the last quarter. BML Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,886,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 3,402.0% in the first quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 2,585,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,257,000 after purchasing an additional 2,511,307 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 77.2% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,852,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,335,000 after purchasing an additional 807,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonepine Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Pliant Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $262,813,000. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Pliant Therapeutics

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ: PLRX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel therapies for fibrotic diseases. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, Pliant applies a precision medicine approach to target integrin-mediated signaling pathways implicated in the development and progression of fibrosis across organ systems.

The company’s lead product candidate, PLN-74809, is an oral small molecule designed to inhibit both αvβ1 and αvβ6 integrins in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).