Belite Bio (NASDAQ:BLTE) Lowered to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Belite Bio (NASDAQ:BLTE) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on BLTE. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Belite Bio in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Truist Financial set a $217.00 target price on shares of Belite Bio in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Mizuho set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Belite Bio in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Belite Bio in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Belite Bio from $266.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.80.

Belite Bio Stock Up 3.7%

NASDAQ BLTE opened at $168.55 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -61.74 and a beta of -1.22. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $154.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $159.79. Belite Bio has a twelve month low of $60.00 and a twelve month high of $200.00.

Belite Bio (NASDAQ:BLTE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported ($0.54) EPS for the quarter. Research analysts anticipate that Belite Bio will post -3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Belite Bio

In other Belite Bio news, insider Hendrik Peter Scholl sold 10,000 shares of Belite Bio stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.24, for a total transaction of $1,452,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,178,600. The trade was a 40.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Hao-Yuan Chuang sold 367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.35, for a total transaction of $66,188.45. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 93,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,850,641.55. The trade was a 0.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,732 shares of company stock worth $2,990,116. Company insiders own 13.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Belite Bio

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Darwin Global Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Belite Bio during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $486,915,000. RA Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in Belite Bio during the third quarter worth about $64,750,000. RTW Investments LP grew its stake in Belite Bio by 128.9% in the fourth quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 715,332 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,425,000 after acquiring an additional 402,832 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Belite Bio by 2,594.6% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 558,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,399,000 after acquiring an additional 538,141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perceptive Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Belite Bio by 732.0% during the fourth quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 414,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,262,000 after purchasing an additional 364,451 shares during the period. 0.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Belite Bio Company Profile

Belite Bio, Inc (NASDAQ: BLTE) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing small molecule therapeutics for metabolic and inflammatory diseases. Leveraging a proprietary drug-discovery platform, the company aims to address conditions such as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and obesity by targeting pathways involved in fibrosis, inflammation and metabolic regulation.

Belite Bio’s pipeline includes multiple candidates in preclinical and early clinical development stages.