Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) Stock Price Up 12.7% Following Strong Earnings

Shares of Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) traded up 12.7% during trading on Monday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock traded as high as $7.33 and last traded at $7.3920. Approximately 269,788 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 52% from the average daily volume of 567,656 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.56.

The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AURA. Wall Street Zen downgraded Aura Biosciences from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. HC Wainwright decreased their target price on Aura Biosciences from $24.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.50.

Institutional Trading of Aura Biosciences

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Montanova Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Aura Biosciences by 64.8% in the second quarter. Montanova Capital LLC now owns 7,206,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,164,000 after buying an additional 2,833,333 shares during the period. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. raised its position in Aura Biosciences by 39.2% during the second quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 7,100,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,410,000 after buying an additional 2,000,000 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Aura Biosciences during the second quarter valued at $33,424,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Aura Biosciences in the 2nd quarter worth about $20,952,313. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in Aura Biosciences in the 2nd quarter worth about $17,788,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

Aura Biosciences Trading Up 12.7%

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $6.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $766.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.23 and a beta of 0.41.

Aura Biosciences Company Profile

Aura Biosciences, Inc (NASDAQ:AURA) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing targeted therapies for cancer. The company’s platform is designed to use tumor-targeting virus-like particles to selectively bind to cancer cells and deliver therapeutic payloads, with the goal of treating tumors while limiting damage to surrounding healthy tissue.

Aura’s lead product candidate is AU-011, also known as belzupacap sarotalocan, an investigational therapy being developed for primary choroidal melanoma, a form of eye cancer.