Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) Stock Passes Below 200-Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP)’s share price passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $14.13 and traded as low as $13.85. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $14.07, with a volume of 767,633 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AUPH shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Leerink Partners downgraded Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $15.00 to $16.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.25.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.1%

The company has a quick ratio of 4.76, a current ratio of 5.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $14.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.13. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 1.53.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $1.32. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 101.46% and a return on equity of 27.47%. The business had revenue of $77.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.70 million. Analysts predict that Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc will post 0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kevin Tang acquired 516,439 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $13.99 per share, for a total transaction of $7,224,981.61. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 11,845,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165,724,686.61. This represents a 4.56% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 12.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 65.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 367,661 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,956,000 after purchasing an additional 145,179 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 8.7% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 503,543 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,048,000 after purchasing an additional 40,380 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 79,811 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $642,000 after purchasing an additional 3,497 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 85.9% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 84,092 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $712,000 after purchasing an additional 38,849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning raised its holdings in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 21.0% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,699 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 3,594 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 36.83% of the company’s stock.

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.