Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported ($0.48) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by ($0.10), FiscalAI reports.

Aura Biosciences Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ AURA traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $7.55. 91,877 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 426,508. The company has a market capitalization of $780.77 million, a P/E ratio of -4.31 and a beta of 0.40. Aura Biosciences has a 52-week low of $4.73 and a 52-week high of $9.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $6.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $6.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Anthony S. Gibney sold 12,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.42, for a total transaction of $82,330.08. Following the transaction, the insider owned 265,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,703,572.68. This represents a 4.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,890,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,863,000 after purchasing an additional 413,001 shares during the period. Nantahala Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Aura Biosciences by 67.1% in the 2nd quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 2,117,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,257,000 after buying an additional 850,000 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Aura Biosciences by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 926,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,050,000 after buying an additional 47,663 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 896,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,542,000 after buying an additional 5,783 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 233.3% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 617,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,364,000 after buying an additional 432,117 shares during the period. 96.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.