Aurora Innovation Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:AUR)

Aurora Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ:AUR) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 35,269 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 466% compared to the typical daily volume of 6,231 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gloria R. Boyland sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.30, for a total transaction of $189,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 344,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,171,276.10. This trade represents a 8.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Reid Hoffman sold 447,046 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.04, for a total transaction of $2,253,111.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $135,535.68. This trade represents a 94.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,776,667 shares of company stock worth $48,432,337 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 13.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aurora Innovation

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AUR. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Aurora Innovation by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 84,904,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $502,636,000 after purchasing an additional 12,466,085 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Aurora Innovation by 15.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,796,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,981,000 after buying an additional 3,064,342 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Aurora Innovation by 15.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,183,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,325,000 after acquiring an additional 2,920,653 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aurora Innovation by 206.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,848,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,983,000 after acquiring an additional 9,325,013 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Aurora Innovation by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,337,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,941,000 after acquiring an additional 2,502,002 shares during the period. 44.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AUR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Aurora Innovation from $3.00 to $4.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Aurora Innovation in a research note on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Aurora Innovation from $2.00 to $2.50 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Aurora Innovation in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Aurora Innovation from $3.00 to $5.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.70.

Aurora Innovation Stock Performance

Shares of AUR stock opened at $8.39 on Wednesday. Aurora Innovation has a fifty-two week low of $2.10 and a fifty-two week high of $9.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.42 billion, a PE ratio of -17.12 and a beta of 2.85. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.18.

Aurora Innovation Company Profile

Aurora Innovation, Inc operates as a self-driving technology company in the United States. It focuses on developing Aurora Driver, a platform that brings a suite of self-driving hardware, software, and data services together to adapt and interoperate vehicles. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.