Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB) Shares Up 7% – Here’s What Happened

Zai Lab Limited Unsponsored ADR (NASDAQ:ZLAB)’s share price was up 7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $20.53 and last traded at $20.66. Approximately 406,055 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 50% from the average daily volume of 819,092 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on ZLAB shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Zai Lab from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Zai Lab from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Zai Lab from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Zai Lab from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.00.

Zai Lab Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $18.61 and its 200-day moving average is $19.12. The firm has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.81 and a beta of 0.76.

Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 1st. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $99.61 million for the quarter. Zai Lab had a negative return on equity of 24.32% and a negative net margin of 39.29%. Analysts predict that Zai Lab Limited Unsponsored ADR will post -2.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zai Lab

In other news, CFO Yajing Chen sold 2,264 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.46, for a total transaction of $39,529.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 35,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $623,164.86. The trade was a 5.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Ying Du sold 7,026 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.53, for a total value of $130,191.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,203,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,306,117.52. This represents a 0.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 90,873 shares of company stock valued at $1,730,096. Corporate insiders own 4.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Zai Lab

A hedge fund recently raised its position in Zai Lab stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Zai Lab Limited Unsponsored ADR (NASDAQ:ZLAB) by 214.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,771 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,390 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Zai Lab were worth $498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 41.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Zai Lab

Zai Lab Ltd (NASDAQ: ZLAB) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of innovative therapies. Headquartered in Shanghai, China, Zai Lab operates R&D centers in Asia and the United States and maintains commercial offices across Greater China, North America, Europe and Australia. The company’s end-to-end platform encompasses discovery biology, translational development, clinical research and global supply chain management.

The company’s marketed portfolio is anchored by Brukinsa (zanubrutinib), a next-generation Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved for several B-cell malignancies.