BNP Paribas Financial Markets Buys 204,326 Shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc $AUPH

BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) by 48.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 625,684 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 204,326 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals were worth $9,980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AUPH. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 65.3% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 367,661 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,956,000 after purchasing an additional 145,179 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 503,543 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,048,000 after purchasing an additional 40,380 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 79,811 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $642,000 after purchasing an additional 3,497 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 21.0% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,699 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 3,594 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 16.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 141,492 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,201,000 after purchasing an additional 20,027 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.83% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aurinia Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Kevin Tang purchased 343,620 shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $15.28 per share, for a total transaction of $5,250,513.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,838,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,166,183.28. The trade was a 2.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have purchased 814,606 shares of company stock worth $12,455,129 in the last quarter. 12.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of AUPH opened at $15.66 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.26. The company has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.22 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 5.55 and a quick ratio of 5.01. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc has a 1-year low of $7.28 and a 1-year high of $16.88.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.25.

About Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

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.