Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR) Downgraded to Strong Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR) from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Craig Hallum assumed coverage on shares of Aurora Innovation in a research report on Friday, June 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of Aurora Innovation in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Aurora Innovation in a report on Friday, July 17th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Aurora Innovation from $4.70 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Aurora Innovation from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aurora Innovation presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.22.

Aurora Innovation Stock Performance

AUR stock opened at $6.45 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.65 billion, a PE ratio of -13.72 and a beta of 2.63. Aurora Innovation has a one year low of $3.60 and a one year high of $8.56. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $6.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.46.

Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by ($0.02). Aurora Innovation had a negative net margin of 18,000.00% and a negative return on equity of 43.94%. The business had revenue of $2.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.66 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.11) EPS. Aurora Innovation’s revenue for the quarter was up 100.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Aurora Innovation will post -0.49 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Reid Hoffman sold 1,202,354 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.27, for a total transaction of $8,741,113.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David M. Wehner bought 82,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $6.04 per share, with a total value of $498,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 246,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,488,974.76. This trade represents a 50.30% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,048,487 shares of company stock worth $54,295,119. Insiders own 8.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aurora Innovation by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,567,323 shares of the company’s stock valued at $616,579,000 after buying an additional 17,818,179 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in shares of Aurora Innovation by 93.0% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 1,037,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,984,000 after acquiring an additional 499,935 shares in the last quarter. Clare Market Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Aurora Innovation in the first quarter worth $2,697,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Aurora Innovation by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 274,809,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,055,269,000 after acquiring an additional 16,933,373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in Aurora Innovation by 55.7% in the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 566,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,174,000 after acquiring an additional 202,504 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.71% of the company’s stock.

Aurora Innovation Company Profile

Aurora Innovation, Inc is a technology company specializing in the development of self-driving vehicle systems for both passenger and commercial applications. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Aurora has built an end-to-end platform—known as the Aurora Driver—that integrates proprietary software, machine learning algorithms and a suite of sensors (LiDAR, radar and cameras) to enable vehicles to operate safely and efficiently in diverse driving environments.

The company’s core business revolves around designing, testing and deploying its autonomy stack on vehicles from established automotive and transportation partners.