Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $75.56.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $89.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, May 31st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $46.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $57.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 7.6 %

Shares of APLS stock opened at $38.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.09 and a beta of 0.95. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $19.83 and a one year high of $92.22. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $42.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 3.77 and a quick ratio of 3.02.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.54) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.54). The company had revenue of $172.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $163.37 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 79.67% and a negative return on equity of 160.77%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 284.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.56) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.66, for a total transaction of $234,640.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 93,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,475,207.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.66, for a total transaction of $234,640.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 93,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,475,207.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.17, for a total transaction of $3,743,526.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,115,983 shares in the company, valued at $60,452,799.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 189,014 shares of company stock worth $8,771,758. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,555,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $572,003,000 after purchasing an additional 85,701 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 38.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,460,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,277,000 after purchasing an additional 677,098 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 109.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,145,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121,497 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 126.6% in the 3rd quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 1,053,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,089,000 after purchasing an additional 588,875 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $56,640,000. 96.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapeutic compounds through the inhibition of the complement system for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. It offers EMPAVELI for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, C3 glomerulopathy and immune complex membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation-associated thrombotic microangiopathy; and SYFOVRE for treating geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration and geographic atrophy (GA).