Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) CEO Bernard Coulie Sells 52,419 Shares

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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 430,517 shares in the company, valued at $4,821,790.40. The trade was a 10.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Pliant Therapeutics stock opened at $10.92 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 10.26, a current ratio of 10.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $664.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.27 and a beta of 1.05. Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $10.22 and a twelve month high of $18.92. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.08.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Atria Investments Inc bought a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $112,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $126,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 65.0% in the 3rd 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 period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $145,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $342,000. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Pliant Therapeutics

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.