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

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) was the target of a large growth in short interest during 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 stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 202,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Mark Plavsic sold 7,383 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were 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 directly owns 121,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,193,150.20. This trade represents a 5.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Janet Jill Hopkins sold 11,822 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.36, for a total transaction of $110,653.92. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 151,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,419,846.48. This represents a 7.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 79,081 shares of company stock worth $891,353 in the last three months. 5.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aura Biosciences

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AURA. Long Focus Capital Management LLC increased its position in Aura Biosciences by 113.4% in the 2nd 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. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. raised its stake in Aura Biosciences by 194.5% during the 2nd quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 327,466 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 216,266 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,668,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,571,000 after purchasing an additional 215,597 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Aura Biosciences in the 3rd quarter worth $1,037,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Aura Biosciences by 51.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 143,027 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 48,549 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

Aura Biosciences Stock Down 4.8 %

NASDAQ:AURA opened at $8.01 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $9.70 and its 200-day moving average is $8.75. Aura Biosciences has a 12 month low of $6.63 and a 12 month high of $12.38. The firm has a market cap of $400.11 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.86 and a beta of 0.26.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.42) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.02. Research analysts predict that Aura Biosciences will post -1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AURA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Aura Biosciences from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aura Biosciences has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $23.00.

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.