HC Wainwright Cuts Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Price Target to $45.00

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) had its price target decreased by HC Wainwright from $57.00 to $45.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on APLS. 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.50.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 3.6%

NASDAQ APLS opened at $21.47 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 has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a PE ratio of 69.26 and a beta of 0.70. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $16.10 and a one year high of $35.72. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $25.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.74.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.64. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 4.43% and a return on equity of 24.58%. The company had revenue of $458.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $364.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.46) earnings per share. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 133.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 31,092 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director owned 3,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,013.64. This trade represents a 89.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.03, for a total transaction of $280,300.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 110,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,109,536.08. The trade was a 8.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 312,921 shares of company stock valued at $8,490,866 over the last quarter. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,130,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,551,000 after purchasing an additional 84,331 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 46.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,976,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,452,000 after purchasing an additional 1,898,995 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 11,373.8% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,704,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,681,263 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% in the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,661,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,076,000 after purchasing an additional 184,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth about $40,977,000. 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).