Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Shares Up 7.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) shot up 7.7% during trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $26.00 to $29.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Apellis Pharmaceuticals traded as high as $18.50 and last traded at $18.24. 369,656 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 2,278,869 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.93.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $28.00 to $20.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $55.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $44.00 price objective for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.05.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.10, for a total transaction of $139,781.90. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 138,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,482,123. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,222,222 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,011,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111,111 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,130,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,551,000 after acquiring an additional 84,331 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 119.6% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,077,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,173,000 after acquiring an additional 2,220,977 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,760,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,084,000 after acquiring an additional 939,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,838,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,699,000 after acquiring an additional 28,426 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 13.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a current ratio of 4.36. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.43 and a beta of 0.73.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.74) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.36) by ($0.38). The business had revenue of $149.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.61 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.54) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current 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).