Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Scotiabank

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) was upgraded by investment analysts at Scotiabank to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Zacks reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on AUGO. 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 report on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings raised Aura Minerals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research upgraded Aura Minerals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Aura Minerals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Aura Minerals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.95.

Aura Minerals Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of Aura Minerals stock opened at $88.71 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.27. Aura Minerals has a 12-month low of $29.11 and a 12-month high of $110.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $7.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06 and a beta of 0.28.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The company reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter. Aura Minerals had a net margin of 23.18% and a return on equity of 103.62%. The firm had revenue of $335.97 million for the quarter. On average, equities analysts forecast that Aura Minerals will post 5.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aura Minerals

In related news, Director Mauad Sousa sold 280,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.67, for a total transaction of $22,867,600.00. Following the transaction, the director 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Glauber Luvizotto sold 64,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.20, for a total value of $5,189,982.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 224,515 shares in the company, valued at $18,006,103. This trade represents a 22.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 263,011 shares of company stock worth $22,662,070 and have sold 1,435,840 shares worth $118,268,784.

Institutional Trading of Aura Minerals

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 291,623 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Aura Minerals in the first quarter valued at about $50,378,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Aura Minerals by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 496,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,021,000 after purchasing an additional 42,091 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Aura Minerals by 125.1% in the 1st 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. Finally, Sagil Capital LLP purchased a new stake 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.