Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) Stock Price Up 6.5% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) shot up 6.5% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $8.13 and last traded at $8.18. Approximately 424,368 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 8% from the average session volume of 462,903 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.68.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AURA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Leerink Partners set a $17.00 price objective on Aura Biosciences in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. HC Wainwright lowered their target price on Aura Biosciences from $24.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen cut Aura Biosciences from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Aura Biosciences from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.50.

Aura Biosciences Stock Up 6.2%

The business’s fifty day moving average is $7.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.77. The firm has a market cap of $845.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.69 and a beta of 0.40.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.48) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by ($0.10). Research analysts forecast that Aura Biosciences, Inc. will post -1.61 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aura Biosciences

In other news, insider Anthony S. Gibney sold 12,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.42, for a total transaction of $82,330.08. Following the transaction, the insider owned 265,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,703,572.68. This represents a 4.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aura Biosciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Aura Biosciences during the 2nd quarter worth about $619,000. Trails Edge Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $10,247,665,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $17,788,000. AWM Investment Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences during the second quarter worth approximately $4,198,000. Finally, ADAR1 Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences during the second quarter worth approximately $924,000. 96.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.