Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Has $6.30 Million Stock Holdings in Aura Biosciences, Inc. $AURA

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. cut its position in Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) by 9.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 941,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 94,186 shares during the period. Levin Capital Strategies L.P.’s holdings in Aura Biosciences were worth $6,298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Aura Biosciences by 130.4% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 3,206 shares during the period. 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 acquiring an additional 2,104 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Aura Biosciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Water Island Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Aura Biosciences in the third quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences during the second quarter valued at approximately $76,000. 96.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Matrix Capital Management Comp sold 6,922,870 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.64, for a total transaction of $39,044,986.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anthony S. Gibney sold 12,824 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.42, for a total value of $82,330.08. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 265,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,703,572.68. The trade was a 4.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Aura Biosciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AURA opened at $7.01 on Thursday. Aura Biosciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $4.73 and a fifty-two week high of $9.53. The stock has a market cap of $724.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.03 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.50.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.50) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by ($0.10). On average, sell-side analysts predict that Aura Biosciences, Inc. will post -1.73 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AURA shares. HC Wainwright upped their target price on Aura Biosciences from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Aura Biosciences from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Aura Biosciences from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $17.00 price target on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.50.

Aura Biosciences Company Profile

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.