Cerity Partners LLC Buys 23,749 Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) by 311.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,381 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,749 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals were worth $905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in APLS. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 191.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,144,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,845,000 after acquiring an additional 1,409,707 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 47.7% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,401,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,750,000 after purchasing an additional 452,753 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 337.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 246,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,177,000 after buying an additional 190,420 shares in the last quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth $2,953,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 137.8% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 123,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,742,000 after buying an additional 71,650 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $33.45 on Friday. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.34 and a 1 year high of $73.80. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.14. The firm has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a PE ratio of -16.48 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 4.36 and a quick ratio of 3.73.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.46) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by ($0.14). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 34.97% and a negative return on equity of 103.11%. The business had revenue of $196.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $200.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.17) EPS. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 78.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total value of $1,340,510.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,623,000. This trade represents a 27.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on APLS. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $64.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $43.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.94.

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).