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

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) CEO Bernard Coulie sold 52,419 shares of Pliant Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total value of $587,092.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Pliant Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ PLRX opened at $11.14 on Friday. Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $10.22 and a fifty-two week high of $18.92. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $13.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.06. The firm has a market cap of $677.87 million, a P/E ratio of -3.34 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 10.26 and a quick ratio of 10.26.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. On average, analysts anticipate that Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PLRX. Great Point Partners LLC grew its stake in Pliant Therapeutics by 42.4% in the 2nd quarter. Great Point Partners LLC now owns 2,636,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,346,000 after buying an additional 785,000 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position 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 valued at $15,725,000 after purchasing an additional 26,610 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 31,221 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,039,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,657,000 after purchasing an additional 14,913 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fernwood Investment Management LLC boosted its stake 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.

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.