Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) Stock Price Down 4.9% After Insider Selling

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) shares traded down 4.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $11.01 and last traded at $11.08. 53,228 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 175,820 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.65.

Specifically, CFO Julie B. Feder sold 25,131 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.03, for a total value of $302,325.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 134,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,615,340.28. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Los Pinos Elisabet De sold 24,992 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 329,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,971,357.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other Aura Biosciences news, CTO Mark Plavsic sold 7,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.85, for a total value of $72,722.55. Following the completion of 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI raised Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Aura Biosciences from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Friday. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Aura Biosciences from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Aura Biosciences from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aura Biosciences has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $23.00.

Aura Biosciences Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $564.29 million, a P/E ratio of -6.12 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $8.80 and a 200-day moving average of $8.13.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.45) by $0.04. As a group, equities analysts expect that Aura Biosciences, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aura Biosciences

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AURA. Regency Capital Management Inc. DE increased its stake in Aura Biosciences by 11.4% during the first quarter. Regency Capital Management Inc. DE now owns 785,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,163,000 after acquiring an additional 80,162 shares during the period. American International Group Inc. grew 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 during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. grew its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 111,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 11,200 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $144,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 51.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 143,027 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 48,549 shares during the period. 96.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.