Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) Shares Down 4.9% Following Insider Selling

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) shares traded down 4.9% on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $11.01 and last traded at $11.08. 53,228 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 175,820 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.65.

Specifically, CFO Julie B. Feder sold 25,131 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.03, for a total transaction of $302,325.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 134,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,615,340.28. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Los Pinos Elisabet De sold 24,992 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.04, for a total value of $300,903.68. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 329,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,971,357.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other Aura Biosciences news, CTO Mark Plavsic sold 7,383 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.85, for a total transaction of $72,722.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 121,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,193,150.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Aura Biosciences from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Scotiabank boosted their target price 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. Evercore ISI upgraded Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their target price on Aura Biosciences from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Aura Biosciences Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $8.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $564.79 million, a PE ratio of -6.13 and a beta of 0.37.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.45) by $0.04. As a group, research analysts predict that Aura Biosciences, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Aura Biosciences

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AURA. Long Focus Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 113.4% during the 2nd quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,057,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,992,000 after purchasing an additional 561,766 shares during the last quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 194.5% during the 2nd quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 327,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 216,266 shares during the last quarter. Regency Capital Management Inc. DE grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Regency Capital Management Inc. DE now owns 785,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,163,000 after purchasing an additional 80,162 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 51.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 143,027 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 48,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

Aura Biosciences Company Profile

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.