Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

AURA has been the subject of a number of other reports. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price target on shares of Aura Biosciences in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Aura Biosciences Price Performance

NASDAQ AURA opened at $6.37 on Tuesday. Aura Biosciences has a 52-week low of $4.34 and a 52-week high of $12.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $395.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.25 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s fifty day moving average is $6.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.50.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by $0.02. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aura Biosciences will post -1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aura Biosciences

In other news, SVP Amy Elazzouzi sold 7,722 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.70, for a total transaction of $51,737.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 86,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $579,938.60. This trade represents a 8.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aura Biosciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 2,104 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 8.3% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 51,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 3,956 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,972 shares during the last quarter. Acorn Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aura Biosciences by 0.9% in the second quarter. Acorn Capital Advisors LLC now owns 595,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,729,000 after purchasing an additional 5,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in shares of Aura Biosciences by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 27,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 5,930 shares in the last quarter. 96.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.