Anthony Gibney Sells 12,824 Shares of Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) Stock

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) insider Anthony Gibney sold 12,824 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.42, for a total transaction of $82,330.08. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 265,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,703,572.68. This represents a 4.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Aura Biosciences Price Performance

NASDAQ:AURA traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $6.28. 496,598 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 385,546. The firm has a market cap of $649.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.61 and a beta of 0.39. Aura Biosciences, Inc. has a 52-week low of $4.73 and a 52-week high of $9.53. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.34.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by ($0.10). On average, analysts predict that Aura Biosciences, Inc. will post -1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aura Biosciences

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in Aura Biosciences by 130.4% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 3,206 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in Aura Biosciences by 49.3% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 2,104 shares during the period. Water Island Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Aura Biosciences during the 3rd quarter worth $64,000. 49 Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Aura Biosciences during the 3rd quarter worth $66,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Aura Biosciences during the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AURA. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Aura Biosciences from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Leerink Partners set a $17.00 target price on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aura Biosciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Aura Biosciences from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Aura Biosciences presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.50.

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.