Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Price Target Cut to $26.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) had its price target cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $29.00 to $26.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on APLS. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 31st. HC Wainwright dropped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 6th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Eleven 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. According to MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.29.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ APLS opened at $20.47 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.03 and a beta of 0.31. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $16.10 and a 52 week high of $31.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $22.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.52. The company has a quick ratio of 3.10, a current ratio of 3.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.64. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 4.43% and a return on equity of 18.94%. 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 prior year, the business posted ($0.46) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 133.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 2,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total transaction of $50,526.63. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,158,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,700,879.61. This represents a 0.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,780 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total transaction of $128,258.20. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 98,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,193,215.22. The trade was a 5.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 37,370 shares of company stock worth $830,090 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Deep Track Capital LP increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.3% in the third quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 8,000,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,049,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,382 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 46.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,976,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,452,000 after buying an additional 1,898,995 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 11,373.8% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,704,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,821,000 after acquiring an additional 2,681,263 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,661,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,076,000 after acquiring an additional 184,292 shares during the period. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc lifted 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 acquiring an additional 1,298,055 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

About Apellis Pharmaceuticals

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.