Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Trading Down 4.4% After Analyst Downgrade

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)’s share price traded down 4.4% during mid-day trading on Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $64.00 to $57.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Apellis Pharmaceuticals traded as low as $35.96 and last traded at $35.96. 67,189 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 95% from the average session volume of 1,475,236 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.62.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, May 31st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $46.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $57.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.24, for a total transaction of $1,451,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 136,998 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,375,801.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $281,000. Level Four Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $626,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $56,640,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 52.6% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 17,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 5,975 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $13,755,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $38.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.31. The company has a current ratio of 5.08, a quick ratio of 4.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.49 and a beta of 0.88.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.03. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 52.99% and a negative return on equity of 138.32%. The firm had revenue of $199.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.89 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.02) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 110.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.29 earnings per share for the current year.

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).