Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) Short Interest Down 23.0% in April

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 2,013,075 shares, a drop of 23.0% from the March 31st total of 2,615,841 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 327,990 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.1 days.

Aura Biosciences Stock Down 3.3%

Aura Biosciences stock opened at $6.73 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $6.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.99. Aura Biosciences has a 12-month low of $4.34 and a 12-month high of $7.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $432.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.76 and a beta of 0.35.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 30th. The company reported ($0.37) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.43) by $0.06. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aura Biosciences will post -1.63 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on Aura Biosciences from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Aura Biosciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.50.

Insider Activity at Aura Biosciences

In other Aura Biosciences news, CTO Mark Plavsic sold 15,890 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.05, for a total transaction of $80,244.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 181,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $916,054.85. This trade represents a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Amy Elazzouzi sold 8,549 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.06, for a total value of $43,257.94. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 75,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $382,191.92. The trade was a 10.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 116,305 shares of company stock valued at $611,230. Insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AURA. Nantahala Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aura Biosciences by 67.1% in the second quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 2,117,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,257,000 after buying an additional 850,000 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aura Biosciences by 233.3% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 617,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,364,000 after buying an additional 432,117 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Aura Biosciences by 16.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,890,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,863,000 after buying an additional 413,001 shares during the last quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Aura Biosciences by 8.8% in the third quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. now owns 1,627,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,057,000 after buying an additional 131,714 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prelude Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Aura Biosciences in the third quarter valued at about $309,000. 96.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.