Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) Short Interest Update

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 947,100 shares, a decline of 16.2% from the October 31st total of 1,130,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 191,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.9 days. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Aura Biosciences Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of AURA stock traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $9.19. 38,218 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 179,825. Aura Biosciences has a 52 week low of $6.63 and a 52 week high of $12.38. The business has a 50 day moving average of $9.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.65. The company has a market capitalization of $459.05 million, a PE ratio of -5.38 and a beta of 0.33.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.42) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.02. On average, research analysts forecast that Aura Biosciences will post -1.66 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AURA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank increased their target price on Aura Biosciences from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. 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 note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Aura Biosciences from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aura Biosciences

In related news, CTO Mark Plavsic sold 7,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.85, for a total value of $72,722.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 121,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,193,150.20. The trade was a 5.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Janet Jill Hopkins sold 11,822 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.36, for a total value of $110,653.92. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 151,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,419,846.48. This trade represents a 7.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 79,081 shares of company stock valued at $891,353. 5.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aura Biosciences

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AURA. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,668,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,571,000 after buying an additional 215,597 shares during the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 561,766 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 4.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,008,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,990,000 after purchasing an additional 39,379 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 754,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,725,000 after purchasing an additional 26,841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Levin Capital Strategies L.P. boosted its stake in Aura Biosciences by 194.5% in the 2nd quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 327,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 216,266 shares during the period. 96.75% of the stock is 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.