Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 290,307 Shares of Zenas BioPharma, Inc. $ZBIO

Key Points

• Vanguard Group increased its Zenas BioPharma stake by 25% in the fourth quarter, buying 290,307 more shares and bringing its total holding to 1,453,065 shares worth about $52.8 million.
• Zenas BioPharma reported a quarterly loss of $1.46 per share, slightly better than analysts expected, while Wall Street’s consensus view remains Hold with an average price target of $44.29.
• Insider buying has also been notable, including purchases by Director Hongbo Lu and Fairmount Funds Management, with insiders acquiring 213,768 shares over the last three months.

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Zenas BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZBIO - Free Report) by 25.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,453,065 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 290,307 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 2.71% of Zenas BioPharma worth $52,761,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ZBIO. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Zenas BioPharma by 34.5% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,134 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Zenas BioPharma in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in shares of Zenas BioPharma in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Zenas BioPharma by 120.0% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,146 shares of the company's stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 1,716 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Zenas BioPharma by 48.3% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,178 shares of the company's stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 709 shares during the last quarter.

Zenas BioPharma Price Performance

Shares of ZBIO stock opened at $18.34 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $21.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.75. The company has a quick ratio of 5.61, a current ratio of 11.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.17 and a beta of -0.61. Zenas BioPharma, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.91 and a 12 month high of $44.60.

Zenas BioPharma (NASDAQ:ZBIO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported ($1.46) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.47) by $0.01. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.80) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Zenas BioPharma, Inc. will post -4.97 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ZBIO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Zenas BioPharma from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Zenas BioPharma in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Zenas BioPharma in a report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research cut Zenas BioPharma from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $44.00 price target on shares of Zenas BioPharma in a report on Friday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $44.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Hongbo Lu acquired 3,768 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $18.63 per share, for a total transaction of $70,197.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 426,736 shares in the company, valued at $7,950,091.68. This trade represents a 0.89% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc acquired 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $20.00 per share, with a total value of $3,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,359,025 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,180,500. This trade represents a 6.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought a total of 213,768 shares of company stock worth $4,137,398 over the last three months. 22.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Zenas BioPharma 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.

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