HC Wainwright Downgrades Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) to Neutral

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) was downgraded by research analysts at HC Wainwright from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Pliant Therapeutics Trading Down 15.0 %

Shares of PLRX opened at $2.61 on Monday. Pliant Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $2.60 and a 1-year high of $18.00. The company has a market capitalization of $158.82 million, a P/E ratio of -0.78 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 10.26 and a quick ratio of 10.26. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pliant Therapeutics

In other Pliant Therapeutics news, CEO Bernard Coulie sold 52,419 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Mike Ouimette sold 10,230 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.99, for a total transaction of $112,427.70. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 70,544 shares in the company, valued at $775,278.56. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 91,855 shares of company stock worth $1,026,628. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pliant Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $108,000. Atria Investments Inc bought a new position in shares of Pliant Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $112,000. 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 worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 4,607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $145,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

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.