Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Upgraded to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on AUGO. Santander downgraded shares of Aura Minerals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Aura Minerals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Aura Minerals from $122.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Aura Minerals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aura Minerals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.27.

Aura Minerals Price Performance

AUGO stock opened at $85.31 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.10 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.06. Aura Minerals has a 1 year low of $29.11 and a 1 year high of $110.32. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.99.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) last released 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 firm had revenue of $335.97 million for the quarter. On average, equities analysts predict that Aura Minerals will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aura Minerals Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Aura Minerals’s payout ratio is 81.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aura Minerals

In related news, COO Glauber Luvizotto sold 64,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.20, for a total transaction of $5,189,982.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 224,515 shares in the company, valued at $18,006,103. The trade was a 22.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Santos Cardoso Joao Kleber Dos sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.95, for a total value of $3,717,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 118,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,316,976.45. The trade was a 33.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 263,011 shares of company stock worth $22,662,070 and sold 1,327,222 shares worth $108,817,936.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aura Minerals

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Aura Minerals in the second quarter worth $86,494,000. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Aura Minerals in the 1st quarter valued at about $50,378,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Aura Minerals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $17,623,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Aura Minerals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $17,483,000. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of Aura Minerals by 319.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 428,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,600,000 after purchasing 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.