Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) Raised to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on AURA. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Friday, March 27th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.50.

Aura Biosciences Stock Performance

Shares of AURA stock opened at $6.54 on Friday. Aura Biosciences has a fifty-two week low of $4.34 and a fifty-two week high of $7.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $419.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.65 and a beta of 0.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.87.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 30th. The company reported ($0.37) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.06. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Aura Biosciences will post -1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Janet Jill Hopkins sold 20,401 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.06, for a total value of $103,229.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 232,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,357.04. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Los Pinos Elisabet De sold 47,648 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.06, for a total transaction of $241,098.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 409,815 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,073,663.90. This trade represents a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 123,076 shares of company stock valued at $618,783 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aura Biosciences

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Aura Biosciences during the second quarter worth about $31,926,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,890,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,863,000 after purchasing an additional 413,001 shares during the last quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 67.1% in the 2nd quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 2,117,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,257,000 after buying an additional 850,000 shares during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. grew its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 1,627,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,057,000 after buying an additional 131,714 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Aura Biosciences by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 926,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,050,000 after buying an additional 47,663 shares during the last quarter. 96.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aura Biosciences Company Profile

Aura Biosciences is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel virus‐like particle (VLP) therapies for the treatment of cancer. By combining proprietary VLP technology with photoactivatable dyes, Aura aims to deliver highly selective photodynamic therapies that target and destroy tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue. The company’s platform is designed to address solid tumors in both ophthalmic and non‐ophthalmic settings, leveraging precision activation via near‐infrared light to induce localized tumor cell apoptosis and stimulate anti‐tumor immune responses.

The lead product candidate, AU-011, is being evaluated in patients with choroidal melanoma, a rare but potentially sight-threatening eye cancer.