Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Shares Gap Up to $47.93

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $47.93, but opened at $50.00. Apellis Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $49.40, with a volume of 140,529 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on APLS. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $81.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.93.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 3.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.35.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.73) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.73). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 178.60% and a negative net margin of 133.34%. The business had revenue of $146.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $143.34 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($1.50) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 545.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 1,431 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.77, for a total transaction of $96,978.87. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 93,338 shares in the company, valued at $6,325,516.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 1,431 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.77, for a total value of $96,978.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,338 shares in the company, valued at $6,325,516.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 906 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.14, for a total value of $58,110.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 104,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,681,527.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 381,011 shares of company stock worth $23,463,657 over the last 90 days. 7.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of APLS. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 79.8% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,542,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,571,606 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 109.6% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $56,640,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 38.0% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 126.6% in the third 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

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).