Franklin Resources Inc. Increases Holdings in Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) by 14.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,668,960 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 215,597 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Aura Biosciences were worth $15,571,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AURA. 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 worth $2,476,000 after acquiring an additional 216,266 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Aura Biosciences by 20.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 250,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,892,000 after purchasing an additional 41,711 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,037,000. Long Focus Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $7,992,000 after purchasing an additional 561,766 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of Aura Biosciences by 39.6% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 63,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 18,011 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aura Biosciences

In other news, insider Los Pinos Elisabet De sold 24,992 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.04, for a total value of $300,903.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 329,847 shares in the company, valued at $3,971,357.88. This trade represents a 7.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Mark Plavsic sold 7,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.85, for a total transaction of $72,722.55. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 121,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,193,150.20. This represents a 5.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 79,081 shares of company stock valued at $891,353. 5.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aura Biosciences Stock Performance

Shares of AURA opened at $8.20 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $409.60 million, a P/E ratio of -4.74 and a beta of 0.26. Aura Biosciences, Inc. has a 1 year low of $6.63 and a 1 year high of $12.38. The company’s fifty day moving average is $9.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.77.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.02. Sell-side analysts predict that Aura Biosciences, Inc. will post -1.66 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Lifesci Capital upgraded Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Aura Biosciences from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Aura Biosciences from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aura Biosciences has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Aura Biosciences 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.