Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) Shares Gap Up to $5.20

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $5.20, but opened at $5.68. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $5.43, with a volume of 450,481 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on AUPH. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $9.50 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $13.00 price target on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, March 1st. 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 research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $13.00 to $8.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.00.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 3.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 5.50 and a quick ratio of 4.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $5.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.14.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 95.9% during the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,673 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Tidemark LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $92,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 36.83% of the company’s stock.

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.