Jupiter Topco LLC Buys New Stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc $AUPH

Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 602,195 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,219,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AUPH. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at $139,037,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,387,194 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $54,026,000 after buying an additional 13,173 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,663,835 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,658,000 after buying an additional 73,700 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,574,957 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,121,000 after buying an additional 91,825 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,507,869 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,047,000 after buying an additional 22,169 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bloom Burton raised shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Zacks Research cut Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.67.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ AUPH opened at $16.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.97, a current ratio of 5.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc has a 12 month low of $10.34 and a 12 month high of $19.25. The company has a market cap of $2.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.11 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.49.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $58.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.45 million. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 26.11% and a net margin of 100.84%. Sell-side analysts predict that Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc will post 0.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kevin Tang acquired 343,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $15.28 per share, for a total transaction of $5,250,513.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,838,101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,166,183.28. This trade represents a 2.75% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

About Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

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.