Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 20,820,000 shares, an increase of 20.1% from the February 13th total of 17,340,000 shares. Currently, 18.0% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,990,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 10.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO James George Chopas sold 1,096 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.43, for a total transaction of $33,351.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 48,138 shares in the company, valued at $1,464,839.34. This trade represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 1,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.96, for a total value of $51,830.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 86,370 shares in the company, valued at $2,587,645.20. The trade was a 1.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,117 shares of company stock valued at $1,954,803 over the last 90 days. 6.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,884,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,036,000 after buying an additional 735,160 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 52.9% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 159,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,606,000 after acquiring an additional 55,282 shares during the last quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $2,953,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3,862.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 104,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,328,000 after purchasing an additional 101,655 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighVista Strategies LLC grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 375.5% in the 3rd quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 35,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 28,409 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on APLS. Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.53.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of APLS opened at $24.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.22 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a current ratio of 4.36. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $23.77 and a 52 week high of $59.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.27.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.08. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The business had revenue of $212.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.92 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.73) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 45.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Apellis Pharmaceuticals

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).