Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on AUGO. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Aura Minerals in a report on Thursday, September 17th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America decreased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Santander lowered shares of Aura Minerals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Aura Minerals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.95.

Aura Minerals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AUGO opened at $66.22 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.71, a PEG ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. Aura Minerals has a 52-week low of $31.15 and a 52-week high of $110.32.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Aura Minerals had a return on equity of 103.62% and a net margin of 23.18%. The firm had revenue of $335.97 million during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Aura Minerals will post 6.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aura Minerals news, Director Mauad Sousa sold 166,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 1,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,366.65. This represents a 99.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 263,011 shares of company stock worth $22,662,070 and have sold 1,568,065 shares worth $133,318,052.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aura Minerals

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Aura Minerals by 41.6% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 69,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,485,000 after purchasing an additional 20,472 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Aura Minerals in the third quarter valued at $250,000. Profund Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Minerals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $215,000. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aura Minerals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Robeco Schweiz AG boosted its stake in shares of Aura Minerals by 16.3% in the third quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 473,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,231,000 after purchasing an additional 66,190 shares during the period.

About Aura Minerals

Aura Minerals Inc is a mining company focused on the exploration, development, and operation of gold, copper, and other precious and base-metal properties in the Americas. The company’s activities span the full mining life cycle, including resource evaluation, mine development, production, processing, and exploration for additional mineral deposits.

Aura’s portfolio has included the Aranzazu copper-gold-silver mine in Zacatecas, Mexico; the San Andrés gold mine in Honduras; and gold operations in Brazil, including the Almas and São Francisco mines.