State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Purchases Shares of 38,189 Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc $AUPH

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 38,189 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $609,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AUPH. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 15,604 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $249,000 after buying an additional 3,189 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $178,000. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 28.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 254,672 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,062,000 after buying an additional 55,924 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,270 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $483,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prakash Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $211,000. Institutional investors own 36.83% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Kevin Tang bought 516,439 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $13.99 per share, for a total transaction of $7,224,981.61. Following the transaction, the director owned 11,845,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165,724,686.61. This represents a 4.56% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 12.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.25.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of AUPH stock opened at $15.72 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.24 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 5.01 and a current ratio of 5.55. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc has a 52 week low of $7.28 and a 52 week high of $16.88. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.01.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $77.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.98 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc will post 0.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals 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.