Aura Minerals Inc. $AUGO Stock Purchased by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group increased its Aura Minerals stake by 41.6% in the third quarter, adding 20,472 shares to hold 69,707 shares worth about $5.49 million.
• Analysts give Aura Minerals a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $86.95; five analysts rate the stock Buy and two rate it Hold.
• Aura declared a quarterly dividend of $0.72 per share, equivalent to a 3.7% annualized yield. Over the past three months, insiders sold substantially more shares than they bought.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Aura Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUGO - Free Report) by 41.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,707 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 20,472 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Aura Minerals worth $5,485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AUGO. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Aura Minerals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $250,000. Profund Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Aura Minerals in the third quarter valued at $215,000. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aura Minerals in the third quarter valued at $42,000. Robeco Schweiz AG increased its holdings in Aura Minerals by 16.3% during the third quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 473,190 shares of the company's stock worth $37,231,000 after buying an additional 66,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in Aura Minerals during the third quarter worth $359,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AUGO. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aura Minerals from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Aura Minerals from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research raised shares of Aura Minerals from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 7th. Finally, Santander downgraded shares of Aura Minerals from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Aura Minerals currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $86.95.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Glauber Luvizotto sold 64,713 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.20, for a total transaction of $5,189,982.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 224,515 shares in the company, valued at $18,006,103. The trade was a 22.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mauad Sousa sold 280,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.67, for a total value of $22,867,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 168,765 shares in the company, valued at $13,783,037.55. The trade was a 62.39% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 263,011 shares of company stock worth $22,662,070 and sold 1,508,065 shares worth $129,112,752.

Aura Minerals Stock Performance

Aura Minerals stock traded up $6.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $77.82. 734,147 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 861,892. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.89. Aura Minerals Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.16 and a fifty-two week high of $110.32. The stock has a market cap of $6.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 0.82.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter. The firm 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 expect that Aura Minerals Inc. will post 6.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aura Minerals Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. Aura Minerals's dividend payout ratio is 81.36%.

About Aura Minerals

Aura Minerals Inc is a mining company focused on the exploration, development, and operation of gold, copper, and other precious and base-metal properties in the Americas. The company's activities span the full mining life cycle, including resource evaluation, mine development, production, processing, and exploration for additional mineral deposits.

Aura's portfolio has included the Aranzazu copper-gold-silver mine in Zacatecas, Mexico; the San Andrés gold mine in Honduras; and gold operations in Brazil, including the Almas and São Francisco mines.

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