Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.25.

Separately, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kevin Tang purchased 206,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $15.28 per share, with a total value of $3,147,756.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,044,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,313,939.68. This represents a 1.60% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 814,606 shares of company stock valued at $12,455,129. 12.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AUPH. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth approximately $48,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 411.9% in the first quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,471 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 2,793 shares during the period. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth approximately $82,000. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 1,008.1% in the first quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 6,815 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 6,200 shares during the last quarter. 36.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

AUPH stock opened at $17.23 on Friday. 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 has a one year low of $7.28 and a one year high of $19.25. The stock has a market cap of $2.22 billion, a PE ratio of 7.94 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.35.

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

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.