Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $77.93.

APLS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Apellis Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $67.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 14th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, insider Mark Jeffrey Delong sold 9,913 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.90, for a total value of $564,049.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 54,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,112,031.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Mark Jeffrey Delong sold 9,913 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.90, for a total value of $564,049.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 54,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,112,031.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Caroline Baumal sold 2,751 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.05, for a total value of $165,197.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,977,506.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 351,923 shares of company stock worth $22,361,395. 7.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,555,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $572,003,000 after acquiring an additional 85,701 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $222,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $12,558,000. FIL Ltd acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $340,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,460,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,277,000 after buying an additional 677,098 shares in the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ APLS opened at $58.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $7.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.06 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 3.10 and a quick ratio of 2.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $63.56 and its 200-day moving average is $55.81. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $19.83 and a one year high of $94.75.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.73) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.73). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 178.60% and a negative net margin of 133.34%. The company had revenue of $146.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $143.34 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.50) earnings per share. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 545.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapeutic compounds through the inhibition of the complement system for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. It offers EMPAVELI for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, C3 glomerulopathy and immune complex membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation-associated thrombotic microangiopathy; and SYFOVRE for treating geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration and geographic atrophy (GA).