JMP Securities Reaffirms "Market Outperform" Rating for Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA)

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "market outperform" rating reissued by stock analysts at JMP Securities in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $19.00 price target on the stock. JMP Securities' price target suggests a potential upside of 216.14% from the company's current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. HC Wainwright set a $25.00 target price on Aura Biosciences in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Lifesci Capital raised shares of Aura Biosciences to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $22.00.

Aura Biosciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AURA traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $6.01. 43,367 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 209,822. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $5.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $7.31. Aura Biosciences has a one year low of $4.35 and a one year high of $12.38. The company has a market cap of $302.12 million, a PE ratio of -3.47 and a beta of 0.43.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The company reported ($0.55) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.47) by ($0.08). As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aura Biosciences will post -1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Aura Biosciences

In other Aura Biosciences news, insider Conor Kilroy sold 7,162 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.49, for a total transaction of $39,319.38. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 179,313 shares in the company, valued at $984,428.37. This trade represents a 3.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Anthony S. Gibney purchased 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $4.90 per share, for a total transaction of $245,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 58,452 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $286,414.80. This represents a 591.58% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,578 shares of company stock valued at $52,067 over the last 90 days. 5.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aura Biosciences

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Long Focus Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 30.8% in the first quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 3,319,582 shares of the company's stock worth $19,453,000 after buying an additional 781,808 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,917,730 shares of the company's stock worth $15,764,000 after acquiring an additional 112,296 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Aura Biosciences by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,723,063 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,164,000 after acquiring an additional 54,103 shares during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. increased its position in shares of Aura Biosciences by 9.1% in the first quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 1,360,768 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,974,000 after acquiring an additional 113,149 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,799 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,327,000 after acquiring an additional 3,972 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.75% of the company's stock.

About Aura Biosciences

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.