Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Zai Lab Limited (NASDAQ:ZLAB)’s share price gapped up before the market opened 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

ZLAB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Zai Lab in a report on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Zai Lab from $44.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Zai Lab in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $36.10 target price (up previously from $29.00) on shares of Zai Lab in a research note on Monday, March 3rd.

Zai Lab Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $31.99 and its 200 day moving average is $29.71. The company has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a PE ratio of -11.78 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Insider Activity at Zai Lab

In other news, CFO Yajing Chen sold 924 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.11, for a total transaction of $30,593.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,047 shares in the company, valued at approximately $895,526.17. The trade was a 3.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ying Du sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were 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 directly owns 494,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold a total of 235,133 shares of company stock worth $7,416,861 over the last ninety days. 4.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Zai Lab

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Zai Lab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $511,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Zai Lab by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Zai Lab during the 4th quarter worth about $46,172,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Zai Lab by 42.9% during the 4th quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 232,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,084,000 after acquiring an additional 69,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in Zai Lab by 188.6% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,505,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,442,000 after buying an additional 984,041 shares during the last quarter. 41.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Zai Lab Company Profile

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.