Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) Shares Down 6.3% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUPH – Get Rating) (TSE:AUP) were down 6.3% on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $10.39 and last traded at $10.60. Approximately 801,917 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 3,255,495 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.31.

Specifically, Director David R.W. Jayne sold 8,733 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.26, for a total value of $98,333.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 49,310 shares in the company, valued at $555,230.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Aurinia Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Joseph M. Miller sold 11,296 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.94, for a total value of $100,986.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 331,214 shares in the company, valued at $2,961,053.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David R.W. Jayne sold 8,733 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.26, for a total value of $98,333.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $555,230.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 72,453 shares of company stock worth $668,436 over the last quarter. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com started coverage on Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.00.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $10.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a PE ratio of -15.58 and a beta of 1.18.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH – Get Rating) (TSE:AUP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $34.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $28.12 million. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 23.56% and a negative net margin of 65.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 59.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.27) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post -0.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Armistice Capital LLC boosted its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 590.6% during the 4th quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 5,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $21,600,000 after acquiring an additional 4,276,000 shares in the last quarter. Bellevue Group AG boosted its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 2,846,457 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $21,405,000 after acquiring an additional 175,044 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,580,012 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,277,000 after acquiring an additional 130,465 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $9,431,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,827,416 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $22,624,000 after acquiring an additional 6,677 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.36% of the company’s stock.

About Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

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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 and internationally. The company offers LUPKYNIS for the treatment of adult patients with active lupus nephritis.