Wall Street Zen Downgrades Zentalis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ZNTL) to Sell

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ZNTL) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on ZNTL. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $5.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Zentalis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.17.

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of ZNTL stock opened at $2.10 on Friday. Zentalis Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $1.01 and a 12-month high of $3.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.11 and a beta of 1.71. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1.94.

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ZNTL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The company reported ($0.49) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.41) by ($0.08). On average, equities analysts anticipate that Zentalis Pharmaceuticals will post -2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Group Walters bought 6,459,973 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $1.20 per share, for a total transaction of $7,751,967.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,509,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,211,967.60. This trade represents a 91.63% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vincent Vultaggio sold 29,951 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.43, for a total value of $72,780.93. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 156,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,972.97. The trade was a 16.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 46,617 shares of company stock valued at $113,417 over the last 90 days. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Zentalis Pharmaceuticals by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 188,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 14,961 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd raised its position in Zentalis Pharmaceuticals by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 576,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $779,000 after acquiring an additional 28,078 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in Zentalis Pharmaceuticals by 126.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 137,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $186,000 after acquiring an additional 76,917 shares during the last quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Zentalis Pharmaceuticals by 342.6% in the 4th quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 1,400,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,891,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084,356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ishara Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,782,000.

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.