HC Wainwright Reaffirms Buy Rating for Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA)

HC Wainwright reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA - Free Report) in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $22.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI raised Aura Biosciences to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Aura Biosciences to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Aura Biosciences from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Aura Biosciences from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aura Biosciences currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $23.00.

Aura Biosciences Stock Down 3.5 %

AURA stock traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $9.97. The company had a trading volume of 115,537 shares, compared to its average volume of 175,236. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $9.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.50. Aura Biosciences has a fifty-two week low of $6.63 and a fifty-two week high of $12.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $494.61 million, a PE ratio of -5.81 and a beta of 0.33.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.02. Research analysts predict that Aura Biosciences will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Julie B. Feder sold 25,131 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.03, for a total transaction of $302,325.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 134,276 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,615,340.28. This represents a 15.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Aura Biosciences news, CFO Julie B. Feder sold 25,131 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.03, for a total transaction of $302,325.93. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 134,276 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,615,340.28. This represents a 15.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Los Pinos Elisabet De sold 9,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.74, for a total transaction of $98,808.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 320,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,443,748.78. This represents a 2.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 67,259 shares of company stock valued at $780,699. Insiders own 5.40% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aura Biosciences

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Long Focus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 113.4% in the second quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,057,188 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,992,000 after buying an additional 561,766 shares during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. raised its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 194.5% in the second quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 327,466 shares of the company's stock worth $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 216,266 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 20.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 250,375 shares of the company's stock worth $1,892,000 after purchasing an additional 41,711 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 51.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 143,027 shares of the company's stock worth $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 48,549 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 2.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 138,356 shares of the company's stock worth $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 3,612 shares during the period. 96.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Aura Biosciences

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.