Insider Selling: Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) Insider Sells 15,936 Shares of Stock

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.20, for a total transaction of $178,483.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 211,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,369,449.60. This trade represents a 7.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Performance

PLRX traded down $0.15 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $10.92. The stock had a trading volume of 700,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 454,935. The company has a current ratio of 10.26, a quick ratio of 10.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.22 and a 12 month high of $18.92. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.08. The firm has a market cap of $664.48 million, a PE ratio of -3.27 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PLRX. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in Pliant Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $112,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C bought a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth about $126,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 4,607 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at about $145,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $342,000. 97.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.