Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) Insider Anthony Gibney Sells 12,824 Shares

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) insider Anthony Gibney sold 12,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.42, for a total transaction of $82,330.08. Following the transaction, the insider owned 265,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,703,572.68. This trade represents a 4.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Aura Biosciences Stock Down 2.6%

NASDAQ AURA opened at $6.28 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $649.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.61 and a beta of 0.39. Aura Biosciences, Inc. has a twelve month low of $4.73 and a twelve month high of $9.53. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.34.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.40) by ($0.10). Research analysts expect that Aura Biosciences, Inc. will post -1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Aura Biosciences

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nantahala Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Aura Biosciences by 67.1% in the 2nd quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 2,117,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,257,000 after acquiring an additional 850,000 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Aura Biosciences by 233.3% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 617,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,364,000 after acquiring an additional 432,117 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Aura Biosciences by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,890,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,863,000 after acquiring an additional 413,001 shares in the last quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. lifted its position in Aura Biosciences by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 1,627,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,057,000 after acquiring an additional 131,714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its position in Aura Biosciences by 150.3% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 91,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $609,000 after acquiring an additional 54,694 shares in the last quarter. 96.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on Aura Biosciences from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Aura Biosciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Aura Biosciences from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $17.00 price objective on Aura Biosciences in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Aura Biosciences presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.50.

Aura Biosciences Company Profile

Aura Biosciences is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel virus‐like particle (VLP) therapies for the treatment of cancer. By combining proprietary VLP technology with photoactivatable dyes, Aura aims to deliver highly selective photodynamic therapies that target and destroy tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue. The company’s platform is designed to address solid tumors in both ophthalmic and non‐ophthalmic settings, leveraging precision activation via near‐infrared light to induce localized tumor cell apoptosis and stimulate anti‐tumor immune responses.

The lead product candidate, AU-011, is being evaluated in patients with choroidal melanoma, a rare but potentially sight-threatening eye cancer.