Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Stock Moved Up to Strong-Buy by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on AUGO. Santander lowered Aura Minerals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Bank of America cut 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 price objective on shares of Aura Minerals from $104.50 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Aura Minerals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 7th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Aura Minerals in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.95.

Aura Minerals Price Performance

NASDAQ AUGO opened at $66.22 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 0.48. Aura Minerals has a 1 year low of $31.15 and a 1 year high of $110.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $84.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.06.

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

Aura Minerals Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. This is a drop from Aura Minerals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. Aura Minerals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 81.36%.

Insider Activity at Aura Minerals

In other Aura Minerals news, COO Glauber Luvizotto sold 64,713 shares of Aura Minerals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.20, for a total transaction of $5,189,982.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 224,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,006,103. This trade represents a 22.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Mauad Sousa sold 280,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $13,783,037.55. This represents a 62.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders acquired 263,011 shares of company stock worth $22,662,070 and sold 1,568,065 shares worth $133,318,052.

Institutional Trading of Aura Minerals

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AUGO. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Aura Minerals by 42.5% during the 1st 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. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in Aura Minerals in the first quarter worth $50,378,000. Robeco Schweiz AG boosted its holdings in Aura Minerals by 16.3% in the third quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG now owns 473,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,231,000 after purchasing an additional 66,190 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Aura Minerals by 125.1% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 321,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,241,000 after purchasing an additional 178,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Andra AP fonden acquired a new position in Aura Minerals during the second quarter worth $10,550,000.

Aura Minerals Company Profile

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.