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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 10.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of PLRX stock opened at $10.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $664.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.27 and a beta of 1.05. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $13.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.08. Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.22 and a 12 month 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 research analysts forecast that Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.65 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Great Point Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 42.4% during the 2nd quarter. Great Point Partners LLC now owns 2,636,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,346,000 after buying an additional 785,000 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,402,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,725,000 after acquiring an additional 26,610 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 2.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,318,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,781,000 after acquiring an additional 31,221 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 1.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,039,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,657,000 after acquiring an additional 14,913 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fernwood Investment Management LLC increased its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fernwood Investment Management LLC now owns 513,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,752,000 after purchasing an additional 16,850 shares during the period. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 target price 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently 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.