Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Shares Gap Up Following Insider Buying Activity

Aura Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUGO)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following insider buying activity. The stock had previously closed at $79.04, but opened at $83.00. Aura Minerals shares last traded at $85.1590, with a volume of 86,904 shares traded.

Specifically, Director Mauad Bruno Sousa acquired 252,000 shares of Aura Minerals stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $86.48 per share, for a total transaction of $21,792,960.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 417,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,092,946.88. This represents a 152.40% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AUGO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Bank of America decreased their price objective 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. Zacks Research lowered Aura Minerals from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Santander lowered shares of Aura Minerals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Aura Minerals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aura Minerals has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.27.

Aura Minerals Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $7.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.94 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $66.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.43.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $335.97 million during the quarter. Aura Minerals had a return on equity of 103.62% and a net margin of 23.18%. Analysts anticipate that Aura Minerals Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current 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 $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Aura Minerals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new stake in Aura Minerals in the second quarter valued at approximately $86,494,000. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in Aura Minerals during the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,378,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Minerals in the 3rd quarter valued at $17,623,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Aura Minerals in the third quarter valued at $17,483,000. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Aura Minerals by 319.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 428,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,600,000 after buying an additional 326,403 shares during the last quarter.

About Aura Minerals

We are an Americas gold and copper production company with a significant portfolio of mining operations. Our mission is to deliver long-term value by unlocking operational efficiencies, responsibly growing our portfolio with a focus on return on invested capital, responsible mining practices and a commitment to sustainability. We operate with a decentralized culture, supported by a lean corporate team that ensures agile and dynamic management and decision-making processes, focused on high operational sustainability compliance standards.