Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on AUGO. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Aura Minerals from $122.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research downgraded Aura Minerals from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Aura Minerals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Santander cut Aura Minerals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.27.

Aura Minerals Stock Performance

Shares of Aura Minerals stock opened at $84.91 on Friday. Aura Minerals has a 12-month low of $29.11 and a 12-month high of $110.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.99 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter. Aura Minerals had a return on equity of 103.62% and a net margin of 23.18%.The business had revenue of $335.97 million for the quarter. Research analysts expect that Aura Minerals will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aura Minerals Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. Aura Minerals’s payout ratio is 81.36%.

Insider Activity at Aura Minerals

In other Aura Minerals news, Director Mauad Sousa sold 280,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.67, for a total transaction of $22,867,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 168,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,783,037.55. The trade was a 62.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Santos Cardoso Joao Kleber Dos sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.95, for a total value of $3,717,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 118,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,316,976.45. This trade represents a 33.69% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 263,011 shares of company stock worth $22,662,070 and have sold 1,327,222 shares worth $108,817,936.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AUGO. Triumph Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Aura Minerals during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Aura Minerals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Aura Minerals in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Hollencrest Capital Management increased its position in shares of Aura Minerals by 307.7% in the fourth quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in shares of Aura Minerals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $108,000.

About Aura Minerals

We are an Americas gold and copper production company with a significant portfolio of mining operations. Our mission is to deliver long-term value by unlocking operational efficiencies, responsibly growing our portfolio with a focus on return on invested capital, responsible mining practices and a commitment to sustainability. We operate with a decentralized culture, supported by a lean corporate team that ensures agile and dynamic management and decision-making processes, focused on high operational sustainability compliance standards.