Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Stock Jumps 13.2% – Here’s Why

Aura Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUGO) rose 13.2% on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $72.39 and last traded at $72.5870. Approximately 416,136 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 976,939 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.11.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on AUGO. Bank of America cut their target price on Aura Minerals from $122.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings raised Aura Minerals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Zacks Research upgraded Aura Minerals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Santander lowered Aura Minerals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Aura Minerals from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.95.

Aura Minerals Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.82.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter. Aura Minerals had a return on equity of 103.62% and a net margin of 23.18%. The business had revenue of $335.97 million during the quarter. Analysts forecast that Aura Minerals Inc. will post 6.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aura Minerals Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Aura Minerals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aura Minerals

In related news, Director Mauad Sousa sold 166,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.65, for a total transaction of $15,047,900.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,041 shares in the company, valued at $94,366.65. The trade was a 99.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 263,011 shares of company stock valued at $22,662,070 and have sold 1,508,065 shares valued at $129,112,752.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aura Minerals

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AUGO. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Aura Minerals by 42.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 977,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,740,000 after acquiring an additional 291,623 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aura Minerals in the first quarter valued at about $50,378,000. Robeco Schweiz AG raised its holdings in shares of Aura Minerals by 16.3% in the third quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 473,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,231,000 after purchasing an additional 66,190 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Aura Minerals by 125.1% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 321,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,241,000 after purchasing an additional 178,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Andra AP fonden bought a new stake in Aura Minerals in the 2nd quarter worth about $10,550,000.

About Aura Minerals

Aura Minerals Inc is a mining company focused on the exploration, development, and operation of gold, copper, and other precious and base-metal properties in the Americas. The company’s activities span the full mining life cycle, including resource evaluation, mine development, production, processing, and exploration for additional mineral deposits.

Aura’s portfolio has included the Aranzazu copper-gold-silver mine in Zacatecas, Mexico; the San Andrés gold mine in Honduras; and gold operations in Brazil, including the Almas and São Francisco mines.