Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Scotiabank

Scotiabank upgraded shares of Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Aura Minerals from $122.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Aura Minerals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 6th. Santander cut Aura Minerals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Aura Minerals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aura Minerals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.95.

Aura Minerals Trading Up 3.2%

AUGO opened at $88.71 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $72.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.82. 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 $7.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06 and a beta of 0.28.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Aura Minerals had a return on equity of 103.62% and a net margin of 23.18%.The company had revenue of $335.97 million for the quarter. Sell-side analysts expect that Aura Minerals will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aura Minerals Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 18th. Aura Minerals’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mauad Sousa sold 280,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.67, for a total transaction of $22,867,600.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 168,765 shares in the company, valued at $13,783,037.55. This trade represents a 62.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Santos Cardoso Joao Kleber Dos sold 60,000 shares of Aura Minerals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.95, for a total value of $3,717,000.00. Following 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 263,011 shares of company stock valued at $22,662,070 and have sold 1,435,840 shares valued at $118,268,784.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aura Minerals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AUGO. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Aura Minerals by 42.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 977,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,740,000 after buying an additional 291,623 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Minerals during the first quarter worth about $50,378,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aura Minerals by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 496,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,021,000 after buying an additional 42,091 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Aura Minerals by 125.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 321,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,241,000 after acquiring an additional 178,730 shares during the period. Finally, Sagil Capital LLP acquired a new position in Aura Minerals in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,864,000.

About Aura Minerals

Aura Minerals Inc is a mining company focused on the exploration, development, and production of precious and base metals. Its operations primarily produce gold, with copper and silver recovered as additional products from certain deposits. The company sells its output in the form of gold doré and metal concentrates.

Aura’s operating portfolio includes the Almas and Apoena gold operations in Brazil, the Aranzazu copper-gold-silver mine in Mexico, and the San Andrés gold mine in Honduras.