Aura Biosciences’ (AURA) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright restated their buy rating on shares of Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $22.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Aura Biosciences from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Lifesci Capital upgraded Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Evercore ISI raised Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. JMP Securities upped their price target on Aura Biosciences from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Aura Biosciences from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Aura Biosciences Price Performance

NASDAQ:AURA opened at $9.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $473.03 million, a PE ratio of -5.47 and a beta of 0.33. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $9.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.54. Aura Biosciences has a fifty-two week low of $6.63 and a fifty-two week high of $12.38.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.02. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Aura Biosciences will post -1.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Aura Biosciences

In related news, CTO Mark Plavsic sold 7,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.85, for a total value of $72,722.55. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 121,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,193,150.20. The trade was a 5.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Los Pinos Elisabet De sold 9,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.74, for a total transaction of $98,808.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 320,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,443,748.78. This trade represents a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 67,259 shares of company stock worth $780,699. 5.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aura Biosciences

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AURA. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Aura Biosciences in the second quarter valued at $119,000. American International Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 27.4% in the 1st quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 17,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 3,782 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences in the 1st quarter worth about $144,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences during the 3rd quarter worth about $169,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Aura Biosciences by 256.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 61,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 43,897 shares in the last quarter. 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.