Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Rating Lowered to “Outperform” at Raymond James

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) was downgraded by investment analysts at Raymond James from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $52.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $75.00. Raymond James’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 200.58% from the stock’s previous close.

APLS has been the subject of several other research reports. Bank of America cut shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $44.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank cut their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $28.00 to $20.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.37.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

APLS opened at $17.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.73, a current ratio of 4.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.05. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $16.65 and a fifty-two week high of $43.99. The firm has a market cap of $2.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.52 and a beta of 0.73.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.74) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.36) by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $149.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.61 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.54) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.10, for a total value of $139,781.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 138,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,482,123. This trade represents a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 6,115 shares of company stock worth $154,684 over the last ninety days. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2,707.1% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 357.2% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 918 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3,938.7% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,221 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $83,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327 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).