Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Aura Minerals from $122.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Scotiabank began coverage on Aura Minerals in a report on Thursday, September 17th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Santander lowered Aura Minerals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.95.

Aura Minerals Stock Down 7.0%

AUGO stock opened at $77.72 on Friday. Aura Minerals has a 12 month low of $29.11 and a 12 month high of $110.32. The firm has a market cap of $6.51 billion, a PE ratio of 21.95 and a beta of 0.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

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 firm had revenue of $335.97 million for the quarter. Aura Minerals had a net margin of 23.18% and a return on equity of 103.62%. Equities research analysts forecast that Aura Minerals will post 5.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aura Minerals Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This is a decrease from Aura Minerals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. Aura Minerals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mauad Sousa sold 166,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.65, for a total value of $15,047,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,366.65. This trade represents a 99.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 263,011 shares of company stock valued at $22,662,070 and sold 1,587,075 shares valued at $134,558,074.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aura Minerals in the first quarter worth approximately $50,378,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Aura Minerals by 42.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 977,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,740,000 after purchasing an additional 291,623 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Aura Minerals by 125.1% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 321,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,241,000 after purchasing an additional 178,730 shares in the last quarter. Andra AP fonden purchased a new position in Aura Minerals during the second quarter valued at approximately $10,550,000. Finally, Sagil Capital LLP acquired a new position in Aura Minerals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,864,000.

Aura Minerals Company Profile

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.