Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,420,000 shares, an increase of 19.3% from the March 15th total of 1,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.7 days. Approximately 3.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aura Biosciences

In other news, insider Conor Kilroy sold 7,162 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.49, for a total value of $39,319.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 179,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $984,428.37. The trade was a 3.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Los Pinos Elisabet De sold 15,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.67, for a total value of $122,374.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 304,692 shares in the company, valued at $2,336,987.64. The trade was a 4.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,104 shares of company stock worth $221,486 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aura Biosciences

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 3.7% during 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. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aura Biosciences by 256.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 61,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 43,897 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Aura Biosciences by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,008,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,990,000 after purchasing an additional 39,379 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Aura Biosciences by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,668,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,571,000 after purchasing an additional 215,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Aura Biosciences by 107.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 53,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 27,718 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on AURA. Lifesci Capital raised shares of Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. JMP Securities set a $19.00 price objective on Aura Biosciences in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, HC Wainwright set a $25.00 target price on Aura Biosciences in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.75.

Aura Biosciences Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of AURA opened at $5.36 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $269.21 million, a P/E ratio of -3.10 and a beta of 0.43. Aura Biosciences has a 1 year low of $4.74 and a 1 year high of $12.38. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $6.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.15.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 24th. The company reported ($0.52) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by ($0.09). As a group, equities analysts forecast that Aura Biosciences will post -1.66 EPS for the current year.

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.