Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Downgraded to “Neutral” Rating by Citigroup

Citigroup downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Citigroup currently has $4.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $40.00.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on PLRX. Royal Bank of Canada cut Pliant Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $45.00 to $4.00 in a research note on Monday. HC Wainwright downgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Pliant Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $4.00 in a report on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.75.

Pliant Therapeutics Trading Up 4.2 %

NASDAQ:PLRX opened at $2.72 on Monday. Pliant Therapeutics has a one year low of $2.43 and a one year high of $18.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 10.26 and a current ratio of 10.26. The stock has a market cap of $165.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.81 and a beta of 1.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,369,449.60. The trade was a 7.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Bernard Coulie sold 52,419 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total value of $587,092.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 430,517 shares in the company, valued at $4,821,790.40. This represents a 10.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 91,855 shares of company stock valued at $1,026,628. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PLRX. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Pliant Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $108,000. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $112,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 65.0% during the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,000 after buying an additional 4,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the third quarter worth approximately $145,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

Pliant Therapeutics Company Profile

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.