Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) Receives $20.50 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.50.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company.

Aura Biosciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AURA opened at $5.86 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $5.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $6.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $372.11 million, a PE ratio of -3.02 and a beta of 0.44. Aura Biosciences has a fifty-two week low of $4.34 and a fifty-two week high of $8.60.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The company reported ($0.40) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.46) by $0.06. On average, equities analysts expect that Aura Biosciences will post -1.66 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Aura Biosciences

In related news, CTO Mark Plavsic sold 12,169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.35, for a total transaction of $77,273.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 197,287 shares in the company, valued at $1,252,772.45. This represents a 5.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Janet Jill Hopkins sold 17,109 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.42, for a total value of $92,730.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 252,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,369,552.70. This represents a 6.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 39,223 shares of company stock valued at $233,155. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aura Biosciences

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AURA. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Aura Biosciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,926,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 67.1% in the 2nd quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 2,117,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,257,000 after acquiring an additional 850,000 shares during the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aura Biosciences by 30.8% during the 1st quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 3,319,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,453,000 after acquiring an additional 781,808 shares in the last quarter. Acorn Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences during the 1st quarter valued at $3,460,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Aura Biosciences by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,890,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,863,000 after acquiring an additional 413,001 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

About Aura Biosciences

Aura Biosciences is a clinical?stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel virus?like particle (VLP) therapies for the treatment of cancer. By combining proprietary VLP technology with photoactivatable dyes, Aura aims to deliver highly selective photodynamic therapies that target and destroy tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue. The company’s platform is designed to address solid tumors in both ophthalmic and non?ophthalmic settings, leveraging precision activation via near?infrared light to induce localized tumor cell apoptosis and stimulate anti?tumor immune responses.

The lead product candidate, AU-011, is being evaluated in patients with choroidal melanoma, a rare but potentially sight-threatening eye cancer.