Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,030,000 shares, a growth of 8.8% from the November 15th total of 947,100 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 202,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.1 days.

Aura Biosciences Stock Performance

Aura Biosciences stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.80. The company had a trading volume of 15,895 shares, compared to its average volume of 179,586. Aura Biosciences has a 12-month low of $6.63 and a 12-month high of $12.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $439.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.14 and a beta of 0.26.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Aura Biosciences from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. BTIG Research raised their target price on Aura Biosciences from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Lifesci Capital raised shares of Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a report on Friday, October 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Aura Biosciences has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $23.00.

Insider Transactions at Aura Biosciences

In other Aura Biosciences news, insider Los Pinos Elisabet De sold 9,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.74, for a total value of $98,808.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 320,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,443,748.78. The trade was a 2.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Mark Plavsic sold 7,383 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.85, for a total transaction of $72,722.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 121,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,193,150.20. This trade represents a 5.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 79,081 shares of company stock worth $891,353. Company insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aura Biosciences

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. lifted its position in Aura Biosciences by 194.5% during the second quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 327,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after buying an additional 216,266 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 20.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 250,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,892,000 after buying an additional 41,711 shares during the period. Long Focus Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 113.4% during the second quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,057,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,992,000 after buying an additional 561,766 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 39.6% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 63,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 18,011 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 14.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 64,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $487,000 after buying an additional 8,194 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

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.