Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

APLS has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $41.00 price objective (up from $37.00) on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.00.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APLS opened at $40.39 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 310.72 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.70, a current ratio of 3.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $16.10 and a 52-week high of $40.45.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by $0.86. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 8.20% and a net margin of 2.23%.The business had revenue of $199.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $199.28 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.29) earnings per share. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total value of $223,947.99. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 93,901 shares in the company, valued at $2,044,224.77. This represents a 9.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 5,928 shares of the 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 $129,052.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,151,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,065,586.14. This trade represents a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 115,537 shares of company stock worth $2,486,082. Company insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 207.4% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 29,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $667,000 after buying an additional 19,944 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 26.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 307,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,730,000 after acquiring an additional 64,742 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 4.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 222,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,869,000 after acquiring an additional 9,747 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 118.4% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 21,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,000 after acquiring an additional 11,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1,146.2% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 23,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $522,000 after acquiring an additional 22,052 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Apellis Pharmaceuticals

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

• Positive Sentiment: Biogen agreed to acquire Apellis for about $5.6 billion, offering $41.00/share in cash plus a non-transferable CVR tied to SYFOVRE sales — this is the main driver of the large share rally. Biogen to buy Apellis for $5.6B (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage updates pushed some price targets up to the deal level (Barclays raised its PT to $41 from $24), which supports the takeover valuation. Barclays raises PT to $41 (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Several firms reiterated neutral/market?perform ratings with price targets clustered near $41, reflecting the deal price rather than new upside from standalone operations. Analyst reaffirms (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: APLS saw extremely high intraday volume and a multi?day surge after the deal announcement; such spikes often normalize as the market digests deal terms and regulatory/closing risk. APLS moves 135% higher (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple shareholder law firms have opened investigations and flagged potential challenges to the adequacy of the $41 per?share price and the sale process — this creates legal/closing risk and could pressure sentiment. M&A class action investigation (PR Newswire)
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades followed the deal news: Needham cut APLS from Buy to Hold and JP Morgan issued a downgrade in subsequent coverage — these moves can weigh on near?term trading, especially if analysts see limited upside beyond the deal price. Needham downgrades to Hold (American Banking News) JP Morgan downgrades (MSN)

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.