Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Stock Price Down 7.4% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Aura Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUGO) fell 7.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $85.86 and last traded at $85.9150. Approximately 381,112 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 995,847 shares. The stock had previously closed at $92.77.

Specifically, Director Mauad Sousa sold 166,000 shares of Aura Minerals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.65, for a total value of $15,047,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,041 shares in the company, valued at $94,366.65. The trade was a 99.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mauad Sousa sold 73,925 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.40, for a total transaction of $6,830,670.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,109 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,118,871.60. The trade was a 85.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AUGO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Aura Minerals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Bank of America lowered 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 downgraded Aura Minerals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Aura Minerals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.95.

Aura Minerals Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market cap of $6.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.47 and a beta of 0.28.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter. Aura Minerals had a return on equity of 103.62% and a net margin of 23.18%.The company had revenue of $335.97 million during the quarter. Analysts expect that Aura Minerals Inc. will post 5.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Aura Minerals Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. This is a negative change from Aura Minerals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Aura Minerals’s payout ratio is presently 81.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Aura Minerals by 42.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 977,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,740,000 after purchasing an additional 291,623 shares in the last quarter. Sagil Capital LLP bought a new position in shares of Aura Minerals in the 4th quarter valued at $7,864,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Aura Minerals by 125.1% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 321,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,241,000 after acquiring an additional 178,730 shares in the last quarter. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda bought a new stake in Aura Minerals during the 1st quarter worth $4,298,000. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Aura Minerals during the 1st quarter worth $2,100,000.

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.