Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) Cut to Sector Perform at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $4.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $45.00.

Separately, HC Wainwright downgraded Pliant Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.75.

Pliant Therapeutics Trading Up 4.2 %

Pliant Therapeutics stock opened at $2.72 on Monday. 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 has a 12-month low of $2.43 and a 12-month high of $18.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.81 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $12.18 and a 200 day moving average of $12.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pliant Therapeutics

In other news, insider Hans Hull sold 15,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 211,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,369,449.60. This represents a 7.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Bernard Coulie sold 52,419 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,821,790.40. This trade represents a 10.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 91,855 shares of company stock valued at $1,026,628 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Pliant Therapeutics

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $108,000. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at approximately $112,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 4,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $145,000. 97.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.