Wall Street Zen Upgrades Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB) to Hold

Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on ZLAB. Citigroup boosted their target price on Zai Lab from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings raised Zai Lab from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Zai Lab from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.25.

Zai Lab Stock Performance

Shares of ZLAB stock opened at $24.98 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.61 and a beta of 0.83. Zai Lab has a fifty-two week low of $15.96 and a fifty-two week high of $34.72. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.99.

Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported ($0.50) EPS for the quarter. Zai Lab had a negative net margin of 41.86% and a negative return on equity of 27.43%. The business had revenue of $106.31 million during the quarter. On average, research analysts forecast that Zai Lab will post -2.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William Lis sold 8,506 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $212,650.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 41,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,048,275. This trade represents a 16.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ying Du sold 7,026 shares of Zai Lab stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.53, for a total transaction of $130,191.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,203,784 shares in the company, valued at $22,306,117.52. This represents a 0.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders have sold 16,411 shares of company stock worth $365,337. 4.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Zai Lab

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Zai Lab by 74.7% in the 2nd quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 136,016 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,584,000 after purchasing an additional 58,158 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its stake in Zai Lab by 142.0% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 68,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,292,000 after buying an additional 39,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S purchased a new position in Zai Lab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $79,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.65% of the company’s stock.

Zai Lab Company Profile

Zai Lab Limited is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing medicines for significant unmet medical needs. The company’s research and development activities have centered on oncology, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, infectious diseases, and neuroscience. Zai Lab operates through a combination of internally developed programs and collaborations with global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

The company has built a commercial portfolio in Greater China that has included ZEJULA (niraparib), a PARP inhibitor used in certain ovarian cancer settings; QINLOCK (ripretinib), a treatment for gastrointestinal stromal tumors; and NUZYRA (omadacycline), an antibiotic for certain bacterial infections.