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

Belite Bio (NASDAQ:BLTE) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also commented on BLTE. Truist Financial set a $217.00 price target on Belite Bio in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Belite Bio in a report on Monday, July 6th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Belite Bio in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Belite Bio from $201.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Mizuho set a $220.00 price target on Belite Bio in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.80.

Belite Bio Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of BLTE stock opened at $168.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $154.03 and a 200-day moving average of $159.79. Belite Bio has a 12-month low of $60.00 and a 12-month high of $200.00. The company has a market capitalization of $6.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -61.74 and a beta of -1.22.

Belite Bio (NASDAQ:BLTE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported ($0.54) EPS for the quarter. On average, equities analysts expect that Belite Bio will post -3.1 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Hendrik Peter Scholl sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 15,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,178,600. This represents a 40.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Hao-Yuan Chuang sold 367 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.35, for a total transaction of $66,188.45. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 93,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,850,641.55. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 20,732 shares of company stock valued at $2,990,116 in the last three months. 13.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Darwin Global Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Belite Bio in the 4th quarter valued at $486,915,000. RA Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in Belite Bio in the 3rd quarter valued at about $64,750,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $89,399,000 after buying an additional 538,141 shares during the period. RTW Investments LP lifted its position in Belite Bio by 128.9% during the fourth quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 715,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,425,000 after purchasing an additional 402,832 shares during the period. Finally, Perceptive Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Belite Bio by 732.0% during the 4th quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 414,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,262,000 after acquiring an additional 364,451 shares during the period. 0.53% of the stock is currently 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.