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

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,280,000 shares, an increase of 20.8% from the December 31st total of 1,060,000 shares. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 206,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.2 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Los Pinos Elisabet De sold 15,955 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.67, for a total transaction of $122,374.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 304,692 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,336,987.64. This represents a 4.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Janet Jill Hopkins sold 11,822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.36, for a total value of $110,653.92. Following the sale, the insider now 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,778 shares of company stock valued at $240,706. 5.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aura Biosciences

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AURA. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 256.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 61,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $544,000 after buying an additional 43,897 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Aura Biosciences by 3.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 754,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,725,000 after acquiring an additional 26,841 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 39,379 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in Aura Biosciences during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,037,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 215,597 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

Aura Biosciences Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ AURA traded down $0.08 on Friday, reaching $7.85. The company had a trading volume of 152,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 122,703. The stock has a market capitalization of $392.11 million, a PE ratio of -4.54 and a beta of 0.30. Aura Biosciences has a 12 month low of $6.63 and a 12 month high of $12.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $8.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.90.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on AURA shares. BTIG Research raised their price objective on Aura Biosciences from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a report on Friday, October 18th. Scotiabank upped 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. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Aura Biosciences in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $23.00.

Aura Biosciences Company Profile

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.