Zenas BioPharma (NASDAQ:ZBIO) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Zenas BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZBIO) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $19.78, but opened at $20.54. Zenas BioPharma shares last traded at $20.9480, with a volume of 16,354 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Zenas BioPharma from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Zenas BioPharma from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Zacks Research upgraded Zenas BioPharma from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Zenas BioPharma in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Zenas BioPharma from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.29.

Zenas BioPharma Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.49 and a beta of -0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 11.94, a current ratio of 11.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company’s 50-day moving average is $19.16 and its 200-day moving average is $23.76.

Zenas BioPharma (NASDAQ:ZBIO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported ($1.46) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.47) by $0.01. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.80) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Zenas BioPharma, Inc. will post -4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Zenas BioPharma

In related news, Director Hongbo Lu acquired 3,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $18.63 per share, with a total value of $70,197.84. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 426,736 shares in the company, valued at $7,950,091.68. The trade was a 0.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc bought 150,000 shares of Zenas BioPharma stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $3,000,000.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 2,359,025 shares in the company, valued at $47,180,500. This represents a 6.79% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have purchased a total of 273,768 shares of company stock valued at $5,150,198 in the last 90 days. 22.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Zenas BioPharma

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Zenas BioPharma by 4.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 373,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,621,000 after buying an additional 16,461 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Zenas BioPharma by 71.3% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 19,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $191,000 after buying an additional 8,207 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. bought a new position in shares of Zenas BioPharma in the second quarter valued at approximately $118,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Zenas BioPharma by 32.3% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 13,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,000 after acquiring an additional 3,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Zenas BioPharma by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,162,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,813,000 after acquiring an additional 170,546 shares in the last quarter.

About Zenas BioPharma

Zenas BioPharma, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel therapies in oncology and infectious diseases. The company’s proprietary platform integrates structure-guided design, computational modeling and high-throughput screening to address challenging protein-protein interactions. Zenas BioPharma is advancing multiple preclinical and clinical-stage candidates aimed at providing new treatment options where current modalities may be limited by efficacy or safety concerns.

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Zenas BioPharma was built to streamline the drug discovery process from target identification through to IND-enabling studies.