Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUPH) Short Interest Down 6.9% in April

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,390,000 shares, a decline of 6.9% from the March 31st total of 12,240,000 shares. Currently, 8.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.5 days.

Institutional Trading of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AUPH. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 95.9% during the third 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 stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Tidemark LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $65,000. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $92,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AUPH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $9.50 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $13.00 to $8.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.00.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of AUPH stock traded up $0.07 on Monday, reaching $4.98. 372,095 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,117,711. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.19. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $4.71 and a 52 week high of $12.43.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) last announced 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 company had revenue of $45.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.00 million. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.45% and a negative return on equity of 20.10%. The company’s revenue was up 58.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.18) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Aurinia Pharmaceuticals will post -0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.