Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Trading 9.2% Higher Following Insider Buying Activity

Key Points

• Aura Minerals shares jumped 9.2% to about $83.25 after director Mauad Bruno Sousa bought 11,000 shares for approximately $868,230, increasing his ownership by 2.51%.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: price targets from Bank of America and JPMorgan were reduced, while ratings range from buy to strong sell. MarketBeat reports an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $79.27.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $2.57 on revenue of $335.97 million and announced a $0.72-per-share quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 3.5% yield and an 88.14% payout ratio.

Aura Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUGO - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 9.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The company traded as high as $82.82 and last traded at $83.2520. Approximately 225,030 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 973,055 shares. The stock had previously closed at $76.24.

Specifically, Director Mauad Bruno Sousa bought 11,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $78.93 per share, for a total transaction of $868,230.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 448,765 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,421,021.45. This represents a 2.51% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AUGO. Wall Street Zen lowered Aura Minerals from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Bank of America decreased their price objective 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. dropped their target price on Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings raised Aura Minerals from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Aura Minerals from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Aura Minerals presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $79.27.

Aura Minerals Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion and a PE ratio of 23.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $62.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.13.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Research analysts expect that Aura Minerals Inc. will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Aura Minerals Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 18th. Aura Minerals's payout ratio is currently 88.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Aura Minerals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $961,000. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda bought a new position in Aura Minerals in the 1st quarter worth about $4,298,000. Wealth High Governance Asset Management Ltda. bought a new position in Aura Minerals in the 1st quarter worth about $3,645,000. Rathbones Group PLC purchased a new position in shares of Aura Minerals during the first quarter worth approximately $245,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Aura Minerals by 42.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 977,212 shares of the company's stock worth $79,740,000 after acquiring an additional 291,623 shares during the period.

About Aura Minerals

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.

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