Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Friday, July 17th. One research 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, Pliant Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $3.00.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Performance

PLRX opened at $1.08 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $1.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.18. Pliant Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $1.02 and a 12-month high of $1.95. The firm has a market cap of $66.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.72 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PLRX. Spark Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Stonepine Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $262,813. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Pliant Therapeutics in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, ADAR1 Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Pliant Therapeutics in the second quarter worth approximately $6,281,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

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 centers on integrins, cell-surface proteins that regulate biological processes involved in tissue repair and fibrosis. Pliant seeks to develop medicines that address fibrosis in organs including the lungs and liver.

Pliant’s lead investigational product is bexotegrast, an oral small-molecule inhibitor designed to selectively target the alphaV beta6 and alphaV beta1 integrins.