Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Shares Sold by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System reduced its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) by 7.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,539 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,665 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals were worth $427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 357.2% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 918 shares during the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. grew its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.9% in the 1st quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 3,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1,819.2% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 3,784 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 89.0% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,000 after buying an additional 2,876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $223,000. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.55, for a total transaction of $97,750.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 128,730 shares in the company, valued at $2,516,671.50. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 137,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total value of $2,775,418.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 343,433 shares in the company, valued at $6,933,912.27. This represents a 28.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 169,090 shares of company stock worth $3,403,832. Corporate insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on APLS. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $28.00 to $20.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Raymond James Financial downgraded Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Nine 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 MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APLS opened at $19.89 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.08, a quick ratio of 3.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.10 and a 12 month high of $41.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.26 and a 200-day moving average of $22.40. The company has a market capitalization of $2.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.11 and a beta of 0.67.

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). The firm had revenue of $149.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.61 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 99.19% and a negative net margin of 28.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.54) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals 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).