Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) General Counsel Sells $170,502.64 in Stock

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) General Counsel David Watson sold 7,832 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total value of $170,502.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 88,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,927,319.87. This represents a 8.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.1%

NASDAQ:APLS traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $21.76. 2,214,978 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,258,745. The company has a quick ratio of 3.10, a current ratio of 3.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $2.75 billion, a PE ratio of 70.18 and a beta of 0.31. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $16.10 and a one year high of $30.91. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.49.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last announced its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $458.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $364.58 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 18.94% and a net margin of 4.43%.The business’s revenue was up 133.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.46) EPS. Equities analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 80.0% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 206.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 1,373 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 141.2% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 64.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $64,000. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APLS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research began coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating 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 on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.53.

More Apellis Pharmaceuticals News

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

• Positive Sentiment: BofA upgraded APLS to Buy and cited a stronger-than-expected launch trajectory for Apellis’s newly approved kidney-disease therapy, assigning a $28 price target — a vote of confidence that implies material upside if commercial momentum continues. Apellis Raised to Buy at Bank of America
• Positive Sentiment: An analyst note highlights early uptake of Empaveli and argues current valuation understates its revenue potential; continued strong launch metrics could drive a re?rating and support upside from current levels. Apellis Valuation Ignores Empaveli Potential, Says Analyst
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo trimmed its price target (from $29 to $26) but kept an Overweight rating — a mixed signal that reduces upside expectations while leaving institutional support intact. Wells Fargo lowers price target on Apellis
• Neutral Sentiment: RBC Capital reiterated a Hold rating, a neutral stance that may temper buying interest from investors seeking stronger analyst conviction. RBC Capital Sticks to Its Hold Rating for Apellis Pharmaceuticals (APLS)
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple senior insiders — including CEO Cedric Francois, CFO Timothy Sullivan, General Counsel David Watson and others — filed Form 4 sales on Jan. 20–22 (large, clustered disposals totaling many tens of thousands of shares). Even if routine (diversification or option-related), clustered executive selling typically weighs on near?term sentiment and likely contributed to the stock decline. See CEO filing for details. CEO Cedric Francois Form 4

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.