Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the seven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.00.

AURA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Lifesci Capital upgraded Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Aura Biosciences from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th.

Insider Activity at Aura Biosciences

In other news, insider Janet Jill Hopkins sold 11,822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.36, for a total transaction of $110,653.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 151,693 shares in the company, valued at $1,419,846.48. This represents a 7.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Los Pinos Elisabet De sold 24,992 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.04, for a total value of $300,903.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 329,847 shares in the company, valued at $3,971,357.88. This trade represents a 7.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 79,081 shares of company stock worth $891,353. 5.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aura Biosciences

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Long Focus Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $7,992,000 after purchasing an additional 561,766 shares during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. lifted its position in Aura Biosciences by 194.5% during the second quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 327,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after buying an additional 216,266 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 14.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,668,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,571,000 after buying an additional 215,597 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in Aura Biosciences during the third quarter worth approximately $1,037,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Aura Biosciences by 51.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 143,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 48,549 shares in the last quarter. 96.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Aura Biosciences Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:AURA opened at $8.22 on Wednesday. Aura Biosciences has a 52-week low of $6.63 and a 52-week high of $12.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.84. The company has a market capitalization of $410.60 million, a PE ratio of -4.75 and a beta of 0.26.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.02. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Aura Biosciences will post -1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

About Aura Biosciences

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.