Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Rating Lowered to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Aura Minerals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Aura Minerals in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Santander lowered shares of Aura Minerals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Aura Minerals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.95.

Aura Minerals Stock Up 11.8%

AUGO stock opened at $86.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.99. The company has a market capitalization of $7.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.19, a PEG ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.82. Aura Minerals has a twelve month low of $33.91 and a twelve month high of $110.32.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Glauber Luvizotto sold 64,713 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.20, for a total transaction of $5,189,982.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 224,515 shares in the company, valued at $18,006,103. This represents a 22.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mauad Sousa sold 280,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.67, for a total transaction of $22,867,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 168,765 shares in the company, valued at $13,783,037.55. This represents a 62.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 263,011 shares of company stock valued at $22,662,070 and sold 1,458,065 shares valued at $125,361,752.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aura Minerals

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Aura Minerals by 42.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 977,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,740,000 after purchasing an additional 291,623 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Aura Minerals in the first quarter worth about $50,378,000. Robeco Schweiz AG lifted its holdings in Aura Minerals by 16.3% in the third quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 473,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,231,000 after purchasing an additional 66,190 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Aura Minerals by 125.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 321,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,241,000 after buying an additional 178,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Andra AP fonden bought a new position in Aura Minerals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $10,550,000.

About Aura Minerals