Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Acquires New Position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc $AUPH

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 416,631 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,070,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned approximately 0.32% of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AUPH. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 411.9% during the 1st quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,471 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 2,793 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $48,000. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $82,000. Institutional investors own 36.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on AUPH shares. Zacks Research lowered shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.67.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.2%

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $15.29 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.68 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 4.97 and a current ratio of 5.42. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc has a one year low of $10.34 and a one year high of $19.25.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $58.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.45 million. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 100.84% and a return on equity of 26.11%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

In other Aurinia Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Kevin Tang bought 206,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.28 per share, with a total value of $3,147,756.40. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,044,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,313,939.68. The trade was a 1.60% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have purchased a total of 814,606 shares of company stock valued at $12,455,129 in the last quarter. 10.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.