Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $APLS

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,130,356 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 84,331 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 8.06% of Apellis Pharmaceuticals worth $221,551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in APLS. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3,938.7% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,221 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.9% in the first quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 3,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 89.0% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,107 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,000 after acquiring an additional 2,876 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 32.8% in the first quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 9,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 2,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $223,000. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total value of $139,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 123,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,439,694. This represents a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 137,465 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,433 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,933,912.27. The trade was a 28.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 174,090 shares of company stock valued at $3,542,832. 6.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APLS has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.12.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.4%

NASDAQ APLS opened at $26.68 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90, a current ratio of 3.77 and a quick ratio of 3.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a PE ratio of -14.66 and a beta of 0.78. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.10 and a 1 year high of $41.94. The business’s 50-day moving average is $20.47 and its 200 day moving average is $21.41.

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