Aura Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUGO) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Aura Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUGO) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $79.2667.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AUGO shares. Santander downgraded shares of Aura Minerals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Aura Minerals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 7th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Aura Minerals from $122.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Aura Minerals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 6th.

Insider Activity at Aura Minerals

In related news, COO Glauber Luvizotto sold 64,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.20, for a total value of $5,189,982.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 224,515 shares in the company, valued at $18,006,103. This trade represents a 22.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mauad Sousa sold 53,627 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.61, for a total transaction of $4,644,634.47. Following the transaction, the director owned 125,031 shares in the company, valued at $10,828,934.91. This trade represents a 30.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 263,011 shares of company stock worth $22,662,070 and have sold 1,380,849 shares worth $113,462,571.

Institutional Trading of Aura Minerals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AUGO. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Aura Minerals by 42.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 977,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,740,000 after buying an additional 291,623 shares during the last quarter. Sagil Capital LLP bought a new stake in shares of Aura Minerals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,864,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Aura Minerals by 125.1% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 321,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,241,000 after acquiring an additional 178,730 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Aura Minerals during the 1st quarter valued at $2,100,000. Finally, Winmill & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in Aura Minerals during the 4th quarter valued at $1,765,000.

Aura Minerals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AUGO opened at $87.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.60 and a beta of 0.28. Aura Minerals has a 1 year low of $29.11 and a 1 year high of $110.32. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter. Aura Minerals had a return on equity of 103.62% and a net margin of 23.18%.The firm had revenue of $335.97 million during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Aura Minerals will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aura Minerals Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Aura Minerals’s payout ratio is currently 81.36%.

About Aura Minerals

Aura Minerals Inc is a mining company focused on the exploration, development, and production of precious and base metals. Its operations primarily produce gold, with copper and silver recovered as additional products from certain deposits. The company sells its output in the form of gold doré and metal concentrates.

Aura’s operating portfolio includes the Almas and Apoena gold operations in Brazil, the Aranzazu copper-gold-silver mine in Mexico, and the San Andrés gold mine in Honduras.