Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:ZNTL)

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZNTL) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 2,113 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 571% compared to the average volume of 315 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Zentalis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in Zentalis Pharmaceuticals by 172.1% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,504,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,536,000 after acquiring an additional 951,500 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals by 152.6% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 661,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,706,000 after purchasing an additional 399,745 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its holdings in shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals by 138.5% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 608,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,240,000 after buying an additional 353,384 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals by 21.6% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 1,498,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,513,000 after acquiring an additional 265,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals by 126.3% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 229,138 shares of the company’s stock valued at $843,000 after purchasing an additional 127,868 shares during the last quarter.

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 12.2 %

Shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $1.66 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.67 and a beta of 1.86. Zentalis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $1.66 and a twelve month high of $18.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.29.

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ZNTL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.56) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.36. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Zentalis Pharmaceuticals will post -2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ZNTL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals from $5.00 to $2.20 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals from $12.00 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. HC Wainwright dropped their price objective on shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $4.00 price target on shares of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, January 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Zentalis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.24.

About Zentalis Pharmaceuticals

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering and developing small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of various cancers. Its products candidatures include the ZN-c3, an inhibitor of WEE1, a protein tyrosine kinase for the treatment of inhibitor for advanced solid tumors and hematological malignancies; in Phase 2 clinical trial as a monotherapy for the treatment of uterine serous carcinoma indications; Phase 2 clinical trial in Cyclin E1 driven high-grade serous ovarian cancer, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer; Phase 1/2 clinical trial in combination with PARPi for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer; Phase 1b clinical trial in combination with chemotherapy in platinum-resistant ovarian, and peritoneal or fallopian tube cancer; Phase 1/2 clinical trial in combination with chemotherapy in relapsed or refractory osteosarcoma; Phase 1/2 clinical trial with encorafenib and cetuximab for mutant metastatic colorectal cancer; and Phase 1/2 clinical trial in combination with chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer.