Bank of Nova Scotia Acquires 861,413 Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $APLS

Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) by 144.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,456,225 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 861,413 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned about 1.15% of Apellis Pharmaceuticals worth $32,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of APLS. Simplify Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,419,000. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. increased its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 48.0% during the 3rd quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 155,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,517,000 after purchasing an additional 50,375 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at about $1,135,000. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 91.9% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 485,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,406,000 after buying an additional 232,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $40,977,000. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

APLS has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays initiated coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Wedbush reduced their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 5,928 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total value of $129,052.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,151,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,065,586.14. The trade was a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 27,192 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total transaction of $591,969.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 286,045 shares in the company, valued at $6,227,199.65. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 115,537 shares of company stock valued at $2,486,082. Insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of APLS stock opened at $18.87 on Tuesday. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.10 and a 52 week high of $30.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a PE ratio of 145.17 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 2.70 and a current ratio of 3.14. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $21.78 and its 200-day moving average is $23.16.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.86. The business had revenue of $199.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.28 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 8.20% and a net margin of 2.23%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.29) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.