Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Price Target Lowered to $48.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) had its price target lowered by Stifel Nicolaus from $55.00 to $48.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

APLS has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. HC Wainwright cut their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.94.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of APLS stock opened at $24.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.47 and a beta of 0.37. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $16.10 and a 1-year high of $35.57. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 3.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $22.60.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.64. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 18.94% and a net margin of 4.43%.The firm had revenue of $458.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $364.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.46) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 133.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total transaction of $122,450.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 103,730 shares in the company, valued at $2,540,347.70. This trade represents a 4.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.03, for a total value of $280,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 110,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,109,536.08. This represents a 8.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,092 shares of company stock valued at $1,366,652. Insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 11,373.8% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,977,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 119.6% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,077,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,173,000 after buying an additional 2,220,977 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 96.0% during the 3rd quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,650,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,975,000 after buying an additional 1,298,055 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 386.7% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,604,105 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,585,000 after buying an additional 1,274,523 shares during the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc, traded as NASDAQ:APLS, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies targeting the complement cascade for the treatment of rare and debilitating diseases. The company’s research and development efforts center on modulating complement proteins to address a range of ophthalmologic, hematologic and renal conditions. Apellis leverages its proprietary compstatin technology platform to design targeted inhibitors intended to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

The company’s lead marketed product, Syfovre (pegcetacoplan), is an intravitreal complement C3 inhibitor approved for geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration, with ongoing investigations in other retinal disorders.