Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $33.9412.

APLS has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $18.00 in a report on Friday, September 26th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $24.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total value of $122,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 103,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,540,347.70. This trade represents a 4.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 31,092 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.72, for a total value of $737,502.24. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,013.64. This trade represents a 89.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 56,092 shares of company stock valued at $1,366,652. Corporate insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in APLS. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 80.0% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 206.8% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted 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 valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 857 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 141.2% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,570 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $64,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of APLS stock opened at $25.24 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $23.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.95. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 81.42 and a beta of 0.37. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $16.10 and a 52-week high of $35.57.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.64. The company had revenue of $458.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $364.58 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 18.94% and a net margin of 4.43%.The company’s revenue was up 133.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.46) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

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.