Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) CEO Kevin Tang Acquires 206,005 Shares

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) CEO Kevin Tang acquired 206,005 shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $15.28 per share, with a total value of $3,147,756.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,044,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $199,313,939.68. The trade was a 1.60% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Kevin Tang also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, June 1st, Kevin Tang acquired 343,620 shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was purchased at an average price of $15.28 per share, with a total value of $5,250,513.60.
• On Friday, May 29th, Kevin Tang acquired 264,981 shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was purchased at an average price of $15.31 per share, with a total value of $4,056,859.11.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $15.39 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.25. The company has a current ratio of 5.55, a quick ratio of 5.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc has a 1-year low of $7.28 and a 1-year high of $16.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.09 and a beta of 1.41.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.07. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 99.97% and a return on equity of 26.62%. The business had revenue of $77.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.98 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc will post 0.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 1,008.1% during the first quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 6,815 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 6,200 shares during the period. BankChampaign National Association bought a new position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth $198,000. Norris Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth $5,076,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 371,781 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,510,000 after acquiring an additional 4,145 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 9.7% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 757,435 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $11,225,000 after acquiring an additional 66,806 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 36.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.25.

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.