Zai Lab Limited (NASDAQ:ZLAB) Short Interest Update

Zai Lab Limited (NASDAQ:ZLAB - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,980,000 shares, a drop of 25.1% from the April 30th total of 6,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.0 days. Approximately 5.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Zai Lab

In related news, CFO Yajing Chen sold 9,618 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $288,540.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,429 shares in the company, valued at $522,870. The trade was a 35.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ying Du sold 46,389 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.09, for a total transaction of $1,303,067.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 479,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,479,014.59. The trade was a 8.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 130,207 shares of company stock valued at $3,880,239. Corporate insiders own 4.96% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Zai Lab

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Zai Lab during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,172,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Zai Lab during the 4th quarter worth about $1,032,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 69,740 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Zai Lab by 1,439.8% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 19,755 shares of the company's stock valued at $517,000 after buying an additional 18,472 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in Zai Lab by 749.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,475,505 shares of the company's stock valued at $143,403,000 after buying an additional 4,830,646 shares during the period. 41.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Zai Lab Stock Up 15.9%

Shares of ZLAB stock traded up $4.95 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $36.08. 2,024,059 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 874,987. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $30.91 and a 200 day moving average of $29.86. Zai Lab has a 1 year low of $16.01 and a 1 year high of $39.77. The firm has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of -13.03 and a beta of 1.04.

Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.45) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.50) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $106.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.40 million. Zai Lab had a negative net margin of 76.14% and a negative return on equity of 36.97%. Analysts expect that Zai Lab will post -2.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ZLAB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Zai Lab from $44.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. 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 report on Monday, March 3rd. Scotiabank started coverage on Zai Lab in a report on Friday, March 7th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Zai Lab in a research note on Thursday, March 27th.

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.