Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $13.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 115.23% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AUR. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Aurora Innovation in a research note on Friday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Aurora Innovation from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $12.00 price target on shares of Aurora Innovation in a research note on Monday. Northland Securities initiated coverage on shares of Aurora Innovation in a research note on Friday, May 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $11.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Aurora Innovation in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.11.

Aurora Innovation Price Performance

Shares of Aurora Innovation stock traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $6.04. The company had a trading volume of 31,911,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,174,729. The company’s 50-day moving average is $6.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.98. Aurora Innovation has a twelve month low of $3.60 and a twelve month high of $8.56. The company has a market cap of $12.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.85 and a beta of 2.63.

Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($0.02). Aurora Innovation had a negative net margin of 18,000.00% and a negative return on equity of 43.94%. The company had revenue of $2.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.66 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.11) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 100.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Aurora Innovation will post -0.48 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aurora Innovation news, Director Michelangelo Volpi sold 2,842,682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.00, for a total transaction of $19,898,774.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 6,390,753 shares of company stock worth $44,826,378. 8.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aurora Innovation

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AUR. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Aurora Innovation by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,000 after buying an additional 1,891 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Aurora Innovation by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,922,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,333,000 after buying an additional 1,293,487 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Aurora Innovation by 32.5% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 16,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 4,048 shares during the last quarter. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in Aurora Innovation during the 2nd quarter worth $490,000. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in Aurora Innovation by 30.4% during the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 15,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after buying an additional 3,504 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.71% of the company’s stock.

About Aurora Innovation

Aurora Innovation, Inc develops autonomous vehicle technology designed to transport people and goods without human drivers. Its core product, the Aurora Driver, combines artificial intelligence, sensors, mapping, and other software and hardware systems to enable automated driving across trucking, ride-hailing, and logistics applications.

The company is initially focused on autonomous trucking, where its technology is intended to support long-haul freight operations and improve safety, efficiency, and vehicle utilization.