Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Price Target Cut to $18.00 by Analysts at Wedbush

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) had its price objective reduced by Wedbush from $20.00 to $18.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Twelve research 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.61.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:APLS opened at $21.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a PE ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 0.26. 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 has a 12-month low of $16.10 and a 12-month high of $30.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $23.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.83.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by $0.86. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 2.23%.The company had revenue of $199.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.28 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.29) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 27,192 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total value of $591,969.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 286,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,227,199.65. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO James George Chopas sold 2,064 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total value of $44,933.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 49,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,084,254.85. The trade was a 3.98% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 120,537 shares of company stock valued at $2,608,532 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 206.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 141.2% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 64.1% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 857 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 338.5% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 4,191 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Here are the key news stories impacting Apellis Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat EPS and slightly topped revenue expectations; management highlighted a strong new launch for EMPAVELI (sales up ~50%), which offsets some weakness in other products. This is the company press release/financial report. Apellis Q4 Results (GlobeNewswire)
• Positive Sentiment: HC Wainwright raised its price target to $48 and maintained a buy rating, signaling bullish analyst conviction around long-term upside tied to product launches. HC Wainwright PT Raise (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Full earnings call transcript, slide deck and third‑party coverage are available — useful for digging into guidance, channel dynamics and management commentary but not new market-moving data by themselves. Earnings Call Transcript (Seeking Alpha)
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest data in the feeds appears unreliable/zero (NaN/0 shares), so there’s no clear short-selling pressure signal to explain today’s move. (Data flagged as inconsistent across feeds.)
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage flagged a wider-than-expected loss narrative and year-over-year revenue decline (~5.9% YoY); Syfovre sales slipped ~8%, which raises near-term growth concerns even though EPS beat. Zacks Earnings Coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Several brokers adjusted price targets downward or to neutral: RBC cut to $21 (sector perform) and Wedbush cut to $18 (neutral); Citigroup trimmed its target slightly to $44 but kept a buy rating — the mixed analyst actions add near-term selling pressure. Analyst Moves (Benzinga) TickerReport

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.