Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.10 EPS

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) issued its earnings results on Monday. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by ($0.10), Zacks reports.

Aura Biosciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AURA traded down $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $7.91. The company had a trading volume of 152,571 shares, compared to its average volume of 347,556. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $6.76 and its 200 day moving average is $6.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $507.82 million, a PE ratio of -4.43 and a beta of 0.37. Aura Biosciences has a twelve month low of $4.34 and a twelve month high of $9.53.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AURA. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Aura Biosciences from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aura Biosciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aura Biosciences

In related news, insider Janet Jill Hopkins sold 20,401 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.06, for a total value of $103,229.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 232,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,175,357.04. This represents a 8.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Matrix Capital Management Comp sold 6,922,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.64, for a total transaction of $39,044,986.80. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 7,039,175 shares of company stock valued at $39,656,217. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,890,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,863,000 after purchasing an additional 413,001 shares during the last quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 67.1% in the 2nd quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 2,117,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,257,000 after buying an additional 850,000 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 926,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,050,000 after buying an additional 47,663 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 896,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,542,000 after buying an additional 5,783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 233.3% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 617,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,364,000 after buying an additional 432,117 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

About Aura Biosciences

Aura Biosciences is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel virus‐like particle (VLP) therapies for the treatment of cancer. By combining proprietary VLP technology with photoactivatable dyes, Aura aims to deliver highly selective photodynamic therapies that target and destroy tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue. The company’s platform is designed to address solid tumors in both ophthalmic and non‐ophthalmic settings, leveraging precision activation via near‐infrared light to induce localized tumor cell apoptosis and stimulate anti‐tumor immune responses.

The lead product candidate, AU-011, is being evaluated in patients with choroidal melanoma, a rare but potentially sight-threatening eye cancer.