Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Aurora Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ:AUR) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $6.97, but opened at $6.48. Aurora Innovation shares last traded at $6.0530, with a volume of 11,883,530 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AUR shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $13.00 price target on shares of Aurora Innovation in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Aurora Innovation in a research report on Friday, July 17th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Aurora Innovation from $4.70 to $7.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $12.00 target price on shares of Aurora Innovation in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $14.00 target price on shares of Aurora Innovation in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.22.

Aurora Innovation Stock Up 0.8%

The stock has a market cap of $12.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.19 and a beta of 2.64. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.67.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aurora Innovation news, Director David M. Wehner acquired 82,500 shares of Aurora Innovation stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $6.04 per share, for a total transaction of $498,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 246,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,488,974.76. This represents a 50.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Reid Hoffman sold 1,202,354 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.27, for a total transaction of $8,741,113.58. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,593,107 shares of company stock worth $53,567,492. Insiders own 8.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aurora Innovation

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AUR. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Aurora Innovation during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,893,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Aurora Innovation in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,341,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in Aurora Innovation by 18.0% in the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 398,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,718,000 after buying an additional 60,700 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Aurora Innovation by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 298,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 50,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Aurora Innovation by 79.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 3,770 shares during the last quarter. 44.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Aurora Innovation Company Profile

Aurora Innovation, Inc is a technology company specializing in the development of self-driving vehicle systems for both passenger and commercial applications. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Aurora has built an end-to-end platform—known as the Aurora Driver—that integrates proprietary software, machine learning algorithms and a suite of sensors (LiDAR, radar and cameras) to enable vehicles to operate safely and efficiently in diverse driving environments.

The company’s core business revolves around designing, testing and deploying its autonomy stack on vehicles from established automotive and transportation partners.