Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Coverage Initiated at Wells Fargo & Company

Research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLSGet Free Report) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 32.51% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.47.

View Our Latest Stock Report on Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 4.2%

APLS stock opened at $24.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.27 and a beta of 0.69. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $16.10 and a 52 week high of $35.72. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $25.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.17. The company has a current ratio of 3.77, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLSGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.33) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $171.39 million for 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%. The firm’s revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.30) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 31,092 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.72, for a total value of $737,502.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,013.64. This represents a 89.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.34, for a total transaction of $121,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 118,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,889,888.20. This trade represents a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 297,921 shares of company stock worth $8,084,466 over the last ninety days. 6.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3,938.7% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,221 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 80.0% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 141.2% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.9% in the first quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 3,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 15.6% in the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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).

Further Reading

Analyst Recommendations for Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS)

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