Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) Receives $20.00 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the five research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.00.

AURA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aura Biosciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on shares of Aura Biosciences from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Leerink Partners set a $17.00 price objective on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Aura Biosciences from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th.

Insider Activity at Aura Biosciences

In other Aura Biosciences news, major shareholder Matrix Capital Management Comp sold 6,922,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.64, for a total transaction of $39,044,986.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Conor Kilroy sold 11,738 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.02, for a total value of $82,400.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 217,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,529,201.70. This represents a 5.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 6.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aura Biosciences

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AURA. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 130.4% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 3,206 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 49.3% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Water Island Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

Aura Biosciences Stock Performance

AURA stock opened at $7.47 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.14. Aura Biosciences has a 52 week low of $4.73 and a 52 week high of $9.53. The company has a market capitalization of $479.57 million, a PE ratio of -4.29 and a beta of 0.37.

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

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.