Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.25.

Separately, Weiss Ratings downgraded Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $15.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.23. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $7.28 and a 12-month high of $16.88. The company has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.01 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 5.55, a quick ratio of 5.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.07. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 99.97%.The business had revenue of $77.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.98 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aurinia Pharmaceuticals will post 0.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

In other Aurinia Pharmaceuticals news, Director Kevin Tang acquired 516,439 shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $13.99 per share, for a total transaction of $7,224,981.61. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 11,845,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165,724,686.61. This trade represents a 4.56% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 12.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AUPH. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 213.5% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,374,021 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $37,283,000 after purchasing an additional 2,297,903 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 1,272.5% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,483,132 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $16,389,000 after purchasing an additional 1,375,072 shares during the period. Kotler Kevin bought a new position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $19,536,000. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 728.6% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,341,067 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $14,819,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,219 shares during the period. Finally, Man Group plc grew its stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 368.9% in the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 852,671 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $13,600,000 after purchasing an additional 670,812 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.83% of the company’s stock.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for autoimmune diseases. The company’s proprietary molecule, voclosporin, is designed to selectively inhibit calcineurin and reduce inflammation associated with autoimmune responses. Aurinia operates research and development facilities in Canada and the United States, leveraging collaborations with academic institutions and contract research organizations to advance its clinical pipeline.

The company’s lead product, voclosporin (marketed as LUPKYNIS), received approval from the U.S.