Short Interest in Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZNTL) Drops By 25.2%

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZNTL) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 4,111,105 shares, a decline of 25.2% from the December 15th total of 5,496,827 shares. Approximately 5.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,018,839 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.0 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,018,839 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.0 days. Approximately 5.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ZNTL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Leerink Partners reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $2.00 target price on shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Zentalis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $4.00 target price on shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Zentalis Pharmaceuticals from $8.00 to $4.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.53.

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 6.3%

NASDAQ ZNTL opened at $2.96 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $1.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1.57. Zentalis Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $1.01 and a 12-month high of $3.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.86 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.43 and a beta of 1.75.

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ZNTL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($0.37) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by $0.12. Equities analysts forecast that Zentalis Pharmaceuticals will post -2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Matrix Capital Management Comp sold 7,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.33, for a total value of $9,975,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 6,459,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,591,764.09. This represents a 53.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Group Walters bought 6,459,973 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 31st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $1.20 per share, for a total transaction of $7,751,967.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 13,509,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,211,967.60. The trade was a 91.63% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Zentalis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals by 31.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 723,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,092,000 after purchasing an additional 172,628 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals by 107.2% in the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 548,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $828,000 after purchasing an additional 283,800 shares during the period. Voleon Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Zentalis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth about $41,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in Zentalis Pharmaceuticals by 76.4% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 56,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 24,526 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Zentalis Pharmaceuticals by 117.1% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,548,781 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,339,000 after buying an additional 835,466 shares during the period.

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing small molecule therapeutics for oncology. Leveraging a proprietary structure-based drug discovery platform, the company designs selective inhibitors aimed at critical cancer targets. Zentalis’ research and development efforts center on delivering differentiated therapies that address unmet medical needs in solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.

The company’s lead product candidate, ZN-c3, is an orally administered inhibitor of the p53-MDM2 interaction, currently being evaluated in Phase I clinical trials for advanced solid tumors and hematologic cancers.