Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Aura Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUGO) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $85.96, but opened at $91.27. Aura Minerals shares last traded at $92.6160, with a volume of 67,418 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Aura Minerals from $122.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Santander lowered Aura Minerals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Weiss Ratings raised Aura Minerals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Aura Minerals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Aura Minerals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.95.

Aura Minerals Stock Up 6.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.97 and a beta of 0.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $72.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.24.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $335.97 million for the quarter. Aura Minerals had a return on equity of 103.62% and a net margin of 23.18%. As a group, research analysts predict that Aura Minerals Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aura Minerals Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Aura Minerals’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mauad Sousa sold 280,000 shares of Aura Minerals stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.67, for a total value of $22,867,600.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 168,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,783,037.55. This trade represents a 62.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Santos Cardoso Joao Kleber Dos sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.95, for a total transaction of $3,717,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 118,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,316,976.45. This trade represents a 33.69% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 263,011 shares of company stock worth $22,662,070 and sold 1,435,840 shares worth $118,268,784.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aura Minerals

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Aura Minerals by 42.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 977,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,740,000 after purchasing an additional 291,623 shares in the last quarter. Sagil Capital LLP purchased a new stake in Aura Minerals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,864,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Aura Minerals by 125.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 321,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,241,000 after buying an additional 178,730 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Minerals during the 1st quarter valued at $2,100,000. Finally, Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Minerals during the 1st quarter valued at $4,298,000.

About Aura Minerals

Aura Minerals Inc is a mining company focused on the exploration, development, and production of precious and base metals. Its operations primarily produce gold, with copper and silver recovered as additional products from certain deposits. The company sells its output in the form of gold doré and metal concentrates.

Aura’s operating portfolio includes the Almas and Apoena gold operations in Brazil, the Aranzazu copper-gold-silver mine in Mexico, and the San Andrés gold mine in Honduras.