Short Interest in Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) Increases By 7.6%

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,130,000 shares, a growth of 7.6% from the October 15th total of 1,050,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 163,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.9 days. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Aura Biosciences Price Performance

Shares of Aura Biosciences stock opened at $9.47 on Monday. Aura Biosciences has a 1-year low of $6.63 and a 1-year high of $12.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $473.03 million, a PE ratio of -5.47 and a beta of 0.33.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.02. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Aura Biosciences will post -1.69 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AURA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Aura Biosciences from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Lifesci Capital raised shares of Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Evercore ISI raised Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Aura Biosciences in a report on Thursday. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a report on Friday, October 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Insider Activity at Aura Biosciences

In other news, CTO Mark Plavsic sold 7,383 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.85, for a total transaction of $72,722.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 121,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,193,150.20. This trade represents a 5.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Julie B. Feder sold 25,131 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,615,340.28. The trade was a 15.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,259 shares of company stock worth $780,699 in the last ninety days. 5.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in Aura Biosciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $119,000. American International Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Aura Biosciences by 27.4% in the first quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 17,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 3,782 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences in the first quarter worth $144,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences during the 3rd quarter valued at $169,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of Aura Biosciences by 39.6% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 63,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 18,011 shares during the period. 96.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.