Brokerages Set Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) Price Target at $17.25

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $17.25.

AUPH has been the topic of several research reports. Leerink Partners cut shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

AUPH stock opened at $13.95 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $14.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.08. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $6.82 and a 12-month high of $16.54. The company has a current ratio of 5.25, a quick ratio of 4.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a PE ratio of 6.71 and a beta of 1.53.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $1.32. The company had revenue of $77.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.70 million. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 27.47% and a net margin of 101.46%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aurinia Pharmaceuticals will post 0.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

In other Aurinia Pharmaceuticals news, Director Kevin Tang purchased 516,439 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $13.99 per share, with a total value of $7,224,981.61. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,845,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165,724,686.61. This represents a 4.56% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 12.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 864.5% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 275,472 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,394,000 after purchasing an additional 246,912 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $406,000. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 120,202 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,917,000 after purchasing an additional 28,645 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 44.3% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 739,444 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $11,794,000 after purchasing an additional 226,875 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 53,721 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 2,421 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.