William Blair Downgrades Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) to Hold

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) was downgraded by William Blair from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on APLS. Raymond James Financial reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday. Roth Mkm assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, March 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $41.00 price objective (down from $48.00) on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $41.00 target price (down from $44.00) on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:APLS opened at $40.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 310.72 and a beta of 0.26. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $16.10 and a 12 month high of $40.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.71. 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 (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.86. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 8.20% and a net margin of 2.23%.The firm had revenue of $199.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.29) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 7,832 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total transaction of $170,502.64. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 88,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,927,319.87. This trade represents a 8.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 27,192 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total transaction of $591,969.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 286,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,227,199.65. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 115,537 shares of company stock valued at $2,486,082. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. RTW Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $192,589,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 11,373.8% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,704,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,821,000 after acquiring an additional 2,681,263 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,977,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 46.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,976,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,898,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 96.0% during the third quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,650,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,975,000 after purchasing an additional 1,298,055 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

More Apellis Pharmaceuticals News

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.