Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $APLS Shares Sold by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reduced its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) by 47.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 794,935 shares of the company’s stock after selling 723,892 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.63% of Apellis Pharmaceuticals worth $17,384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 882,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,170,000 after purchasing an additional 22,507 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 147.8% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,625,000 after purchasing an additional 44,332 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 11.4% during 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 worth $6,793,000 after purchasing an additional 21,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1,795.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 9,695 shares in the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on APLS shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. One 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.12.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.3%

APLS stock opened at $26.84 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. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.10 and a 1-year high of $40.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $23.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.33. The firm has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.75 and a beta of 0.73.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $187.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.30) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total transaction of $139,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 123,730 shares in the company, valued at $3,439,694. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 49,963 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.39, for a total transaction of $1,418,449.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 307,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,742,586.94. The trade was a 13.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 399,638 shares of company stock valued at $9,910,962. 6.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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).