Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) Short Interest Up 19.3% in March

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,420,000 shares, a growth of 19.3% from the March 15th total of 1,190,000 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.7 days.

Insider Transactions at Aura Biosciences

In other news, insider Conor Kilroy sold 7,162 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.49, for a total transaction of $39,319.38. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 179,313 shares in the company, valued at $984,428.37. The trade was a 3.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 14,148 shares of company stock worth $91,434 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aura Biosciences

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences during the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Aura Biosciences by 5,766.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 9,573 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Aura Biosciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $87,000. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Aura Biosciences in the 4th quarter worth approximately $127,000. Finally, Harvest Investment Services LLC bought a new position in Aura Biosciences in the 4th quarter valued at $133,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

Aura Biosciences Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of AURA stock opened at $5.71 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $6.62 and its 200 day moving average is $8.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $286.78 million, a P/E ratio of -3.30 and a beta of 0.43. Aura Biosciences has a 12 month low of $4.84 and a 12 month high of $12.38.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last issued its earnings results on Monday, March 24th. The company reported ($0.52) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.43) by ($0.09). On average, equities analysts predict that Aura Biosciences will post -1.66 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. HC Wainwright set a $25.00 price objective on Aura Biosciences in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, JMP Securities set a $19.00 target price on Aura Biosciences in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.75.

About Aura Biosciences

Aura Biosciences, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, develops precision immunotherapies to treat a range of solid tumors. The company's proprietary platform enables the targeting of a range of solid tumors using virus-like particles conjugated with drugs or loaded with nucleic acids to create virus-like drug conjugates.