Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) Shares Gap Up to $8.21

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUPH – Get Rating) (TSE:AUP) shares gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $8.21, but opened at $8.88. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $8.73, with a volume of 904,814 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. SVB Leerink decreased their target price on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 4th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. HC Wainwright decreased their target price on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.50.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $5.72 and its 200-day moving average is $7.09. The stock has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of -10.48 and a beta of 0.87.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH – Get Rating) (TSE:AUP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 3rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.12. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 89.50% and a negative return on equity of 26.03%. The firm had revenue of $55.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.11 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post -0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC acquired a new position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 40,365 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $174,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 407,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,063,000 after purchasing an additional 35,854 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 156,647 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,178,000 after purchasing an additional 5,306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC raised its position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 112.4% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC now owns 64,401 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 34,078 shares in the last quarter. 40.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

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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 and internationally. The company offers LUPKYNIS for the treatment of adult patients with active lupus nephritis.