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

Investment analysts at Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “peer perform” rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on APLS. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $24.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. HC Wainwright cut their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. 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. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.06.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.5%

APLS opened at $19.95 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $25.06 and a 200 day moving average of $21.76. The company has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of 64.36 and a beta of 0.70. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $16.10 and a 12 month high of $35.72. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.64. The company had revenue of $458.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $364.58 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 4.43% and a return on equity of 18.94%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 133.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.46) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.22, for a total transaction of $126,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 113,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,868,270.60. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 10,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.03, for a total transaction of $280,300.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 110,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,109,536.08. This represents a 8.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 312,921 shares of company stock valued at $8,490,866. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APLS. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 11,373.8% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,704,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,681,263 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth $40,977,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 119.6% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,077,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,173,000 after purchasing an additional 2,220,977 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 386.7% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,604,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,585,000 after purchasing an additional 1,274,523 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2,879.3% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,048,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,935,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013,500 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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).