Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUPH) Short Interest Update

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,240,000 shares, a growth of 14.9% from the March 15th total of 10,650,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.2 days. Approximately 9.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $13.00 to $8.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $9.50 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, March 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $65,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 154.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 127,728 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $992,000 after acquiring an additional 77,594 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 138.0% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 55,428 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $430,000 after acquiring an additional 32,137 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 214,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,687,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $165,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.83% of the company’s stock.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.4 %

AUPH stock traded up $0.02 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $5.06. 465,381 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,228,529. The firm has a market capitalization of $731.78 million, a PE ratio of -9.44 and a beta of 1.36. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $4.85 and a 1 year high of $12.43. The company has a 50-day moving average of $5.73 and a 200-day moving average of $7.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 4.99 and a current ratio of 5.50.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by ($0.03). Aurinia Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.45% and a negative return on equity of 20.10%. The company had revenue of $45.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.18) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 58.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Aurinia Pharmaceuticals will post -0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies to treat various diseases with unmet medical need in the United States. It offers LUPKYNIS for the treatment of adult patients with active lupus nephritis. It has a collaboration and license agreement with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd.