Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) has been given an average rating of “Buy” by the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $23.00.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AURA. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Aura Biosciences from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Aura Biosciences in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Aura Biosciences from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th.

Aura Biosciences Stock Down 2.6 %

AURA stock opened at $7.89 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $394.11 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.56 and a beta of 0.30. Aura Biosciences has a 52-week low of $6.63 and a 52-week high of $12.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.92.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.02. As a group, analysts anticipate that Aura Biosciences will post -1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aura Biosciences news, insider Janet Jill Hopkins sold 11,822 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.36, for a total transaction of $110,653.92. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 151,693 shares in the company, valued at $1,419,846.48. The trade was a 7.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Los Pinos Elisabet De sold 15,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.67, for a total value of $122,374.85. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 304,692 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,336,987.64. The trade was a 4.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 38,531 shares of company stock valued at $345,454. Company insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aura Biosciences

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in Aura Biosciences during the 2nd quarter worth $119,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 250,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,892,000 after purchasing an additional 41,711 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Aura Biosciences by 26.3% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 72,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $545,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 64,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 8,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences in the third quarter worth $169,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

About Aura Biosciences

Aura Biosciences, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, develops precision immunotherapies to treat a range of solid tumors. The company's proprietary platform enables the targeting of a range of solid tumors using virus-like particles conjugated with drugs or loaded with nucleic acids to create virus-like drug conjugates.