Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUPH) Short Interest Up 25.5% in January

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:AUPH) (TSE:AUP) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,390,000 shares, an increase of 25.5% from the January 15th total of 7,480,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,430,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.6 days.

Institutional Trading of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,945,060 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $21,587,000 after acquiring an additional 64,949 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 187.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 219,331 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 143,072 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth $3,330,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 13.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 744,050 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,454,000 after purchasing an additional 89,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC increased its holdings in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals by 76.0% during the 3rd quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 301,553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,210,000 after purchasing an additional 130,204 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.00.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of AUPH stock traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $7.79. The stock had a trading volume of 985,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,206,777. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $7.64. The company has a current ratio of 5.60, a quick ratio of 5.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $4.71 and a 12-month high of $10.67.

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.