Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Raised to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

APLS has been the subject of several other reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Scotiabank lowered 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 research note on Thursday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.78.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ APLS opened at $22.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a current ratio of 3.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $18.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.73. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $16.10 and a 52-week high of $41.94. The company has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of -12.61 and a beta of 0.77.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.11. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.24% and a negative return on equity of 116.09%. The firm had revenue of $171.39 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.91 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.30) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.55, for a total transaction of $97,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 128,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,516,671.50. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 137,465 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $2,775,418.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,933,912.27. This trade represents a 28.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 169,090 shares of company stock valued at $3,403,832. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 16.7% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 54,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,191,000 after purchasing an additional 7,777 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 882,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,170,000 after buying an additional 22,507 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 147.8% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,325 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,625,000 after buying an additional 44,332 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 212,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,793,000 after buying an additional 21,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1,795.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 9,695 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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).