Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR)

Key Points

• Traders bought an unusually large number of call options on Aurora — 18,614 calls, a 103% increase versus the average daily volume, indicating heightened bullish options interest.
• The stock jumped 10.4% to $7.21 on the day (12.6M shares traded), while Aurora carries a market cap of about $14.05 billion and a 52-week range of $3.60–$8.19.
• Institutional owners are active: Vanguard raised its position to 160.6M shares, and overall institutional ownership stands at 44.71%, underscoring significant institutional exposure.

Aurora Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ:AUR - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 18,614 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 103% compared to the average daily volume of 9,147 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AUR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Aurora Innovation by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,567,323 shares of the company's stock worth $616,579,000 after acquiring an additional 17,818,179 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Aurora Innovation by 17.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 7,264,577 shares of the company's stock worth $39,156,000 after acquiring an additional 1,094,021 shares during the period. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd raised its position in Aurora Innovation by 230.5% in the third quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 647,096 shares of the company's stock worth $3,488,000 after acquiring an additional 451,315 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Aurora Innovation by 6,824.0% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 9,645,035 shares of the company's stock worth $37,037,000 after acquiring an additional 9,505,736 shares during the period. Finally, Paragon Advisors LLC raised its position in Aurora Innovation by 103.0% in the third quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC now owns 536,195 shares of the company's stock worth $2,890,000 after acquiring an additional 272,121 shares during the period. 44.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aurora Innovation Trading Up 10.4%

Shares of AUR traded up $0.68 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $7.21. 12,599,094 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,123,322. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.47. Aurora Innovation has a 52 week low of $3.60 and a 52 week high of $8.19. The company has a market cap of $14.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.02 and a beta of 2.58.

Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.47 million. Analysts predict that Aurora Innovation will post -0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AUR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Aurora Innovation in a report on Monday, February 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Aurora Innovation from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Aurora Innovation from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Sunday, April 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Aurora Innovation in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $13.00 price target on shares of Aurora Innovation in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aurora Innovation has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $10.54.

About Aurora Innovation

Aurora Innovation, Inc is a technology company specializing in the development of self-driving vehicle systems for both passenger and commercial applications. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Aurora has built an end-to-end platform—known as the Aurora Driver—that integrates proprietary software, machine learning algorithms and a suite of sensors (LiDAR, radar and cameras) to enable vehicles to operate safely and efficiently in diverse driving environments.

The company's core business revolves around designing, testing and deploying its autonomy stack on vehicles from established automotive and transportation partners.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.