Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday after The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a sell rating. The stock had previously closed at $22.22, but opened at $21.24. The Goldman Sachs Group now has a $18.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $26.00. Apellis Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $22.11, with a volume of 570,867 shares traded.

APLS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 31,092 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $713,561.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 68,908 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,581,438.60. The trade was a 31.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.34, for a total transaction of $121,700.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 118,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,889,888.20. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 430,919 shares of company stock worth $10,656,945. Insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 141.2% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,570 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 52.9% during the second quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 475,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,222,000 after buying an additional 164,300 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 748.8% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 6,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 6,080 shares in the last quarter. Exome Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $1,707,000. Finally, Voleon Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 42.9% during the second quarter. Voleon Capital Management LP now owns 43,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $747,000 after buying an additional 12,948 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.7%

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of -12.29 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 3.16, a current ratio of 3.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $24.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.18.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $171.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.91 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.24% and a negative return on equity of 116.09%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.30) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Company 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).