Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Zai Lab Limited (NASDAQ:ZLAB)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $30.93, but opened at $31.88. Zai Lab shares last traded at $32.20, with a volume of 215,335 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Zai Lab in a research report on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $36.10 price target (up previously from $29.00) on shares of Zai Lab in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Zai Lab from $44.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Zai Lab in a research report on Thursday, March 27th.

Zai Lab Trading Up 4.9%

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.71 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $32.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.67.

Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.50) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $106.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.40 million. Zai Lab had a negative return on equity of 36.97% and a negative net margin of 76.14%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Zai Lab Limited will post -2.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Zai Lab

In other Zai Lab news, insider Frazor Titus Edmondson III sold 14,544 shares of Zai Lab stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.98, for a total transaction of $479,661.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,328 shares in the company, valued at $472,537.44. The trade was a 50.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ying Du sold 50,000 shares of Zai Lab stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.47, for a total value of $1,723,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 494,117 shares in the company, valued at $17,032,212.99. This represents a 9.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 235,133 shares of company stock worth $7,416,861. 4.96% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZLAB. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Zai Lab during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $511,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Zai Lab by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Zai Lab in the fourth quarter worth $46,172,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Zai Lab by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 232,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,084,000 after purchasing an additional 69,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Zai Lab by 188.6% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,505,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,442,000 after purchasing an additional 984,041 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.65% of the company’s stock.

About Zai Lab

Zai Lab Limited develops and commercializes therapies to treat oncology, autoimmune disorders, infectious diseases, and neuroscience. Its commercial products include Zejula, an orally administered poly polymerase 1/2 inhibitor; Optune, a cancer therapy that uses electric fields tuned to specific frequencies to kill tumor cells; NUZYRA for acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections, and community acquired bacterial pneumonia; Qinlock to treat gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and VYVGART, a human IgG1 antibody fragment for myesthenia gravis.