Mizuho Cuts Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Price Target to $20.00

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) had its target price decreased by Mizuho from $30.00 to $20.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on APLS. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $28.00 to $20.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.42.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 6.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:APLS opened at $17.45 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.60 and a beta of 0.73. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $16.10 and a 52-week high of $43.99. 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 (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.74) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.36) by ($0.38). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The business had revenue of $149.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.61 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.54) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.10, for a total transaction of $139,781.90. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 138,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,482,123. This represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 119.6% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,077,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,173,000 after buying an additional 2,220,977 shares during the period. Boxer Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $45,504,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 266,361.5% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,385,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,385,080 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 969.6% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,518,827 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $41,014,000. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

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).