Aura Minerals Inc. $AUGO Stock: U S Global Investors Inc. Trims Holdings

U S Global Investors Inc. lessened its stake in Aura Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUGO) by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 25,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 25,000 shares during the quarter. U S Global Investors Inc.’s holdings in Aura Minerals were worth $1,967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AUGO. Triumph Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Aura Minerals by 32.4% in the second quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 596 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Aura Minerals by 522.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP grew its stake in shares of Aura Minerals by 15.5% during the first quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 8,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. AMG Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Aura Minerals during the third quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Minerals in the first quarter valued at approximately $245,000.

Insider Activity at Aura Minerals

In related news, Director Mauad Sousa sold 166,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director directly owned 1,041 shares in the company, valued at $94,366.65. This trade represents a 99.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders bought 263,011 shares of company stock valued at $22,662,070 and sold 1,568,065 shares valued at $133,318,052.

Aura Minerals Trading Down 7.9%

NASDAQ AUGO opened at $78.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.54. The company has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a PE ratio of 22.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. Aura Minerals Inc. has a 12 month low of $29.11 and a 12 month high of $110.32.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter. Aura Minerals had a return on equity of 103.62% and a net margin of 23.18%. The firm had revenue of $335.97 million for the quarter. Research analysts forecast that Aura Minerals Inc. will post 6.11 EPS for the current year.

Aura Minerals Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This is a drop from Aura Minerals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Aura Minerals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Aura Minerals from $122.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Santander downgraded Aura Minerals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective 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. Wall Street Zen raised Aura Minerals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Aura Minerals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.95.

Aura Minerals Profile

Aura Minerals Inc is a mining company focused on the exploration, development, and operation of gold, copper, and other precious and base-metal properties in the Americas. The company’s activities span the full mining life cycle, including resource evaluation, mine development, production, processing, and exploration for additional mineral deposits.

Aura’s portfolio has included the Aranzazu copper-gold-silver mine in Zacatecas, Mexico; the San Andrés gold mine in Honduras; and gold operations in Brazil, including the Almas and São Francisco mines.