Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Hold" on Aurinia, with four hold and two buy recommendations and an average 12‑month price target of $17.25.
• The company posted a strong quarterly beat, reporting $1.53 EPS vs. $0.21 expected and $77.11M revenue vs. $74.7M expected, alongside a 27.47% ROE and a net margin of 101.46%.
• A significant insider purchase occurred: Director Kevin Tang bought 516,439 shares (~$7.22M) at $13.99, raising his stake to 11.85M shares, and insiders now own 12.20% of the company.

Shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH - Get Free Report) TSE: AUP have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the six analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $17.25.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Leerink Partners downgraded Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:AUPH opened at $14.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of 7.12 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $14.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.05. 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.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH - Get Free Report) TSE: AUP last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $1.32. The company had revenue of $77.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.70 million. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 27.47% and a net margin of 101.46%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Aurinia Pharmaceuticals will post 0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 25.9% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,407 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $91,000. 36.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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