Insider Selling: Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) CEO Sells $587,092.80 in Stock

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) CEO Bernard Coulie sold 52,419 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total transaction of $587,092.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 430,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,821,790.40. The trade was a 10.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ PLRX opened at $10.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 10.26, a quick ratio of 10.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $13.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.05. The company has a market capitalization of $664.48 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.27 and a beta of 1.05. Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.22 and a 1-year high of $18.92.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.95) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.99) by $0.04. Equities analysts forecast that Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Pliant Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $112,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $126,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 65.0% during the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 4,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $145,000. Institutional investors own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Friday, November 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pliant Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $40.50.

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.