Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Zai Lab Limited Unsponsored ADR (NASDAQ:ZLAB)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday. The stock had previously closed at $25.62, but opened at $26.80. Zai Lab shares last traded at $26.31, with a volume of 125,399 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ZLAB. Wall Street Zen upgraded Zai Lab from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Zai Lab in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Zai Lab from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup increased their price target on Zai Lab from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Zai Lab from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.25.

Zai Lab Price Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a PE ratio of -15.11 and a beta of 0.73.

Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported ($0.50) EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $106.31 million for the quarter. Zai Lab had a negative net margin of 41.86% and a negative return on equity of 27.43%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Zai Lab Limited Unsponsored ADR will post -2.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Zai Lab news, Director William Lis sold 8,506 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $212,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 41,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,048,275. This trade represents a 16.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 9,385 shares of company stock valued at $235,145 over the last three months. 4.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Zai Lab

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Zai Lab by 74.7% in the 2nd quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 136,016 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,584,000 after buying an additional 58,158 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Zai Lab by 142.0% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 68,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,292,000 after acquiring an additional 39,901 shares during the period. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new stake in Zai Lab during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.65% of the company’s stock.

About Zai Lab

Zai Lab Ltd. (NASDAQ: ZLAB) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing medicines for serious diseases with significant unmet medical needs. The company’s research and development activities span oncology, autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, infectious diseases, and neuroscience.

Founded in 2014 by Samantha Du, Zai Lab has built a portfolio through internal research as well as licensing and collaboration agreements with international pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.