Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Now Covered by Analysts at Barclays

Barclays started coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) in a research report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued an equal weight rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho decreased their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $24.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.00.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 5.8%

NASDAQ APLS opened at $23.07 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $23.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.62. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $16.10 and a 12 month high of $30.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 3.10. The company has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.42 and a beta of 0.31.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $364.58 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.46) earnings per share. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 133.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 10,287 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 transaction of $223,947.99. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 93,901 shares in the company, valued at $2,044,224.77. The trade was a 9.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 27,192 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total transaction of $591,969.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 286,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,227,199.65. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 125,169 shares of company stock worth $2,700,681 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Simplify Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth $2,419,000. Corton Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $364,000. Highland Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at about $1,135,000. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 48.0% in the third quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 155,399 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,517,000 after purchasing an additional 50,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 91.9% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 485,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,406,000 after purchasing an additional 232,506 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

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.