Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc $AUPH Shares Bought by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) by 32.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 180,960 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,736 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,682,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $82,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 25.9% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,407 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 1,318 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 32.4% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,034 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 3,191 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.83% of the company’s stock.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $16.97 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 5.01 and a current ratio of 5.55. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc has a 1 year low of $7.28 and a 1 year high of $19.25. The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.82 and a beta of 1.41.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.25 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $77.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.98 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc will post 0.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kevin Tang purchased 343,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $15.28 per share, for a total transaction of $5,250,513.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,838,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,166,183.28. This trade represents a 2.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders acquired 814,606 shares of company stock worth $12,455,129 in the last 90 days. 12.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals 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.