Aura Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUGO) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts hold a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Aura Minerals, with three buy ratings and three holds. The average 12-month price target is $79.27, below the reported $87.08 share price.
• Aura Minerals reported quarterly earnings of $2.57 per share on $335.97 million in revenue, with a 23.18% net margin and 103.62% return on equity.
• The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share, equivalent to an annualized $2.88 payout and a 3.3% yield, while insiders sold significantly more shares than they purchased during the latest quarter.

Aura Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUGO - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $79.2667.

AUGO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Aura Minerals from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Aura Minerals from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. 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 note on Thursday, July 9th. Santander cut Aura Minerals from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th.

Aura Minerals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AUGO opened at $87.08 on Friday. Aura Minerals has a 12-month low of $29.11 and a 12-month high of $110.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.60 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $70.65 and a 200 day moving average of $75.25.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $335.97 million for the quarter. Aura Minerals had a net margin of 23.18% and a return on equity of 103.62%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Aura Minerals will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Aura Minerals Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Aura Minerals's payout ratio is 81.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Santos Cardoso Joao Kleber Dos sold 7,934 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.12, for a total value of $635,672.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 98,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,860,653.32. The trade was a 7.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mauad Sousa sold 53,627 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.61, for a total value of $4,644,634.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 125,031 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,828,934.91. This represents a 30.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 263,011 shares of company stock worth $22,662,070 and sold 1,380,849 shares worth $113,462,571.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aura Minerals

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AUGO. California State Teachers Retirement System bought a new stake in Aura Minerals in the 2nd quarter valued at $86,494,000. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Aura Minerals during the 1st quarter valued at about $50,378,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Aura Minerals during the third quarter valued at about $17,623,000. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Aura Minerals during the third quarter valued at about $17,483,000. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Aura Minerals by 319.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 428,436 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,600,000 after purchasing an additional 326,403 shares in the last quarter.

About Aura Minerals

Aura Minerals Inc is a mining company focused on the exploration, development, and production of precious and base metals. Its operations primarily produce gold, with copper and silver recovered as additional products from certain deposits. The company sells its output in the form of gold doré and metal concentrates.

Aura's operating portfolio includes the Almas and Apoena gold operations in Brazil, the Aranzazu copper-gold-silver mine in Mexico, and the San Andrés gold mine in Honduras.

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