Zenas BioPharma (NASDAQ:ZBIO) Trading Up 10.8% – Still a Buy?

Zenas BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZBIO) traded up 10.8% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $19.19 and last traded at $19.6850. 236,622 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 803,402 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.76.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Zenas BioPharma from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Zenas BioPharma from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Zacks Research raised Zenas BioPharma from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Zenas BioPharma from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Zenas BioPharma in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Zenas BioPharma has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.29.

Zenas BioPharma Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.34 and a beta of -0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 11.94 and a quick ratio of 11.94. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $19.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.71.

Zenas BioPharma (NASDAQ:ZBIO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported ($1.46) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.47) by $0.01. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.80) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Zenas BioPharma, Inc. will post -4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Zenas BioPharma

In related news, CEO Leon O. Moulder, Jr. bought 60,000 shares of Zenas BioPharma stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $16.88 per share, for a total transaction of $1,012,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 96,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,636,144.64. The trade was a 162.48% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc bought 150,000 shares of Zenas BioPharma stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was bought at an average price of $20.00 per share, for a total transaction of $3,000,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 2,359,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,180,500. The trade was a 6.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have purchased 273,768 shares of company stock worth $5,150,198 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 22.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Zenas BioPharma

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ZBIO. Polar Capital Holdings Plc bought a new stake in Zenas BioPharma in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,402,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Zenas BioPharma by 45.9% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,715,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,603,000 after acquiring an additional 853,740 shares during the last quarter. EcoR1 Capital LLC bought a new stake in Zenas BioPharma in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,667,000. NEA Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Zenas BioPharma by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. NEA Management Company LLC now owns 3,523,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,928,000 after buying an additional 789,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Zenas BioPharma by 723.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 388,347 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,592,000 after buying an additional 341,187 shares in the last quarter.

Zenas BioPharma Company Profile

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.