Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Shares Gap Up - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Aura Minerals shares jumped from a previous close of $85.96 to an opening price of $91.27, later trading around $92.62 on volume of 67,418 shares.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable but mixed: the stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus from four Buy and three Hold ratings, with an average price target of $86.95. Scotiabank initiated coverage with a “sector outperform” rating and a $110 target, while Bank of America lowered its target to $94.
• The company reported quarterly earnings of $2.57 per share on $335.97 million in revenue, alongside a 23.18% net margin. Aura paid a quarterly dividend of $0.72, equal to a 3.1% annualized yield, while insiders sold substantially more shares than they bought over the past 90 days.

Aura Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUGO - Get Free Report) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $85.96, but opened at $91.27. Aura Minerals shares last traded at $92.6160, with a volume of 67,418 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Aura Minerals from $122.00 to $94.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Aura Minerals from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Aura Minerals in a research note on Thursday. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Santander cut shares of Aura Minerals from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Zacks Research raised Aura Minerals from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.95.

Aura Minerals Stock Performance

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 market cap of $7.66 billion, a PE ratio of 25.97 and a beta of 0.28. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $72.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.24.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter. Aura Minerals had a net margin of 23.18% and a return on equity of 103.62%. The firm had revenue of $335.97 million during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Aura Minerals Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aura Minerals Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Aura Minerals's dividend payout ratio is presently 81.36%.

Insider Activity

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 transaction 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mauad Sousa sold 54,991 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.40, for a total transaction of $4,806,213.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 70,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,121,496. This trade represents a 43.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 263,011 shares of company stock valued at $22,662,070 and sold 1,435,840 shares valued at $118,268,784.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aura Minerals

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AUGO. Triumph Capital Management increased its position in shares of Aura Minerals by 32.4% in the 2nd quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 596 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Aura Minerals during the 4th quarter valued at about $134,000. Harbour Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Aura Minerals during the fourth quarter worth about $183,000. Rathbones Group PLC acquired a new stake in Aura Minerals in the first quarter worth $245,000. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new position in Aura Minerals during the 4th quarter valued at about $248,000.

Aura Minerals Company Profile

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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