Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Zai Lab Limited (NASDAQ:ZLAB)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $37.99 and last traded at $37.05, with a volume of 300615 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $35.39.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $36.10 price target (up from $29.00) on shares of Zai Lab in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Zai Lab in a report on Friday. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Zai Lab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th.

Zai Lab Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.15 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.51.

Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.80) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.61) by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $109.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.15 million. Zai Lab had a negative return on equity of 36.97% and a negative net margin of 76.14%. Analysts forecast that Zai Lab Limited will post -2.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Zai Lab

In other news, insider Rafael Amado sold 7,583 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.28, for a total value of $199,281.24. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $889,157.52. The trade was a 18.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ying Du sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.44, for a total transaction of $1,622,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 494,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,029,155.48. This represents a 9.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 122,127 shares of company stock valued at $4,024,442 over the last 90 days. 13.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Zai Lab

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Zai Lab during the fourth quarter worth $46,172,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Zai Lab by 26.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,053,000 after buying an additional 9,107 shares during the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp increased its holdings in Zai Lab by 42.9% during the fourth quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 232,293 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,084,000 after buying an additional 69,740 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Zai Lab by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 183,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,801,000 after purchasing an additional 41,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Zai Lab in the fourth quarter valued at $511,000. 41.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Zai Lab

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.