Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) Stock Price Breaks Below 200-Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Aura Minerals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUGO) shares passed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $75.63 and traded as low as $65.16. Aura Minerals shares last traded at $66.22, with a volume of 1,666,970 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AUGO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective 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. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Aura Minerals in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Aura Minerals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Aura Minerals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Aura Minerals from $122.00 to $94.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.95.

Aura Minerals Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a PE ratio of 18.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.63.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ:AUGO) last released 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 net margin of 23.18% and a return on equity of 103.62%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Aura Minerals Inc. will post 6.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Aura Minerals Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $5,189,982.60. Following 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. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 value of $22,867,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 168,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,783,037.55. This trade represents a 62.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 263,011 shares of company stock worth $22,662,070 and have sold 1,568,065 shares worth $133,318,052.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AUGO. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Aura Minerals by 41.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 69,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,485,000 after purchasing an additional 20,472 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Aura Minerals during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $250,000. Profund Advisors LLC bought a new position in Aura Minerals during the 3rd quarter worth $215,000. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. bought a new position in Aura Minerals during the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Robeco Schweiz AG increased its position 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 buying 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.