Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Aura Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUGO)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $88.11, but opened at $83.88. Aura Minerals shares last traded at $84.3750, with a volume of 79,852 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on AUGO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Santander lowered shares of Aura Minerals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Aura Minerals from $122.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Aura Minerals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Aura Minerals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $79.27.

Aura Minerals Stock Down 3.2%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.66. The stock has a market cap of $7.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.10 and a beta of 0.28.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter. Aura Minerals had a return on equity of 103.62% and a net margin of 23.18%.The company had revenue of $335.97 million for the quarter. Equities research analysts predict that Aura Minerals Inc. will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Aura Minerals Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Aura Minerals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Glauber Luvizotto sold 64,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.20, for a total transaction of $5,189,982.60. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 224,515 shares in the company, valued at $18,006,103. This trade represents a 22.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mauad Sousa sold 127,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.20, for a total value of $10,353,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 163,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,265,319.20. The trade was a 43.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 263,011 shares of company stock worth $22,662,070 and have sold 1,327,222 shares worth $108,817,936.

Institutional Trading of Aura Minerals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Minerals in the second quarter valued at $86,494,000. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in Aura Minerals in the first quarter worth about $50,378,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Aura Minerals in the third quarter worth about $17,623,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Aura Minerals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $17,483,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Aura Minerals by 319.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 428,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,600,000 after acquiring an additional 326,403 shares during the last quarter.

Aura Minerals Company Profile

We are an Americas gold and copper production company with a significant portfolio of mining operations. Our mission is to deliver long-term value by unlocking operational efficiencies, responsibly growing our portfolio with a focus on return on invested capital, responsible mining practices and a commitment to sustainability. We operate with a decentralized culture, supported by a lean corporate team that ensures agile and dynamic management and decision-making processes, focused on high operational sustainability compliance standards.