Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Rating Lowered to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $3.00.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ PLRX opened at $0.81 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $50.14 million, a PE ratio of -0.54 and a beta of 1.36. The business’s fifty day moving average is $1.01 and its 200 day moving average is $1.15. Pliant Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $0.80 and a fifty-two week high of $1.81.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.36) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by ($0.02). On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Pliant Therapeutics will post -1.42 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PLRX. Spark Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Torno Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 9.4% in the first quarter. Torno Capital LLC now owns 350,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,000 after acquiring an additional 30,000 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC lifted its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 46.1% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 123,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 38,950 shares in the last quarter. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Pliant Therapeutics

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing therapies for fibrotic diseases. The company’s research is centered on integrin biology, a field involving proteins that regulate cell communication and tissue remodeling. Pliant aims to develop medicines that address the underlying processes that drive fibrosis in organs such as the lungs and liver.

Pliant’s lead investigational product is bexotegrast, an oral, selective inhibitor of the integrins ?v?1 and ?v?6.