Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by ($0.10), FiscalAI reports.

Aura Biosciences Trading Up 2.4%

AURA stock opened at $7.65 on Friday. Aura Biosciences has a twelve month low of $4.73 and a twelve month high of $9.53. The company has a market capitalization of $491.13 million, a P/E ratio of -4.40 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aura Biosciences news, insider Conor Kilroy sold 11,738 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.02, for a total value of $82,400.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 217,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,529,201.70. The trade was a 5.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, major shareholder Matrix Capital Management Comp sold 6,922,870 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.64, for a total transaction of $39,044,986.80. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aura Biosciences

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 49.3% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 12.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 24,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 2,693 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 69,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 4,366 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 35.9% in the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 20,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 5,541 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 25,031 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,000 after purchasing an additional 5,674 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AURA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Leerink Partners set a $17.00 price target on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. HC Wainwright raised their price target on shares of Aura Biosciences from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Aura Biosciences from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Aura Biosciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Aura Biosciences has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.00.

About Aura Biosciences

Aura Biosciences is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel virus‐like particle (VLP) therapies for the treatment of cancer. By combining proprietary VLP technology with photoactivatable dyes, Aura aims to deliver highly selective photodynamic therapies that target and destroy tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue. The company’s platform is designed to address solid tumors in both ophthalmic and non‐ophthalmic settings, leveraging precision activation via near‐infrared light to induce localized tumor cell apoptosis and stimulate anti‐tumor immune responses.

The lead product candidate, AU-011, is being evaluated in patients with choroidal melanoma, a rare but potentially sight-threatening eye cancer.