Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,120,000 shares, a drop of 13.2% from the February 13th total of 1,290,000 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 158,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.1 days.

Insider Activity at Aura Biosciences

In other news, insider Los Pinos Elisabet De sold 15,955 shares of Aura Biosciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.67, for a total value of $122,374.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 304,692 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,336,987.64. The trade was a 4.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,045 shares of company stock valued at $177,242. Insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AURA. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aura Biosciences by 2.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 138,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 3,612 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Aura Biosciences by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,012,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,972 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in Aura Biosciences by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 27,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 5,930 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in Aura Biosciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 51,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,000 after buying an additional 8,709 shares during the last quarter. 96.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Lifesci Capital raised Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Aura Biosciences Stock Performance

Shares of AURA stock opened at $7.42 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $7.66 and its 200-day moving average is $8.65. The stock has a market cap of $370.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.29 and a beta of 0.30. Aura Biosciences has a 52-week low of $6.63 and a 52-week high of $12.38.

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.