Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the seven analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.00.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AURA shares. JMP Securities raised their target price on Aura Biosciences from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a report on Friday, October 18th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Aura Biosciences from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Lifesci Capital raised Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th.

Aura Biosciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AURA opened at $8.45 on Wednesday. Aura Biosciences has a fifty-two week low of $6.63 and a fifty-two week high of $12.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $422.09 million, a P/E ratio of -4.88 and a beta of 0.26. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.85.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.02. Sell-side analysts expect that Aura Biosciences will post -1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Aura Biosciences

In other news, insider Los Pinos Elisabet De sold 24,992 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.04, for a total transaction 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 represents a 7.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Janet Jill Hopkins sold 11,822 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.36, for a total value of $110,653.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 151,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,419,846.48. This represents a 7.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 79,081 shares of company stock valued at $891,353. Corporate insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aura Biosciences

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Aura Biosciences during the second quarter worth $119,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $169,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Aura Biosciences by 107.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 53,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 27,718 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in Aura Biosciences by 39.6% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 63,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 18,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 14.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 64,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $487,000 after purchasing an additional 8,194 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

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.