Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUPH) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,240,000 shares, a growth of 14.9% from the March 15th total of 10,650,000 shares. Approximately 9.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Armistice Capital LLC increased its holdings in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 57.7% during the 4th quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 9,536,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $85,729,000 after purchasing an additional 3,488,000 shares in the last quarter. Bellevue Group AG acquired a new stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,784,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,431,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 355.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,387,862 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $23,998,000 after acquiring an additional 1,863,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 262.7% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,694,200 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,227,129 shares during the last quarter. 36.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on AUPH shares. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $13.00 to $8.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price 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. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $13.00 price target on shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.00.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ:AUPH traded down $0.06 on Monday, reaching $5.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,338,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,253,355. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $4.85 and a 1-year high of $12.43. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $5.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.34. The firm has a market cap of $728.88 million, a PE ratio of -9.33 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 4.99 and a current ratio of 5.50.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by ($0.03). Aurinia Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 44.45% and a negative return on equity of 20.10%. The business had revenue of $45.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.18) earnings per share. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 58.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate 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.