Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Grows Position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $APLS

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) by 30,747.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 185,392 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 184,791 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. owned approximately 0.15% of Apellis Pharmaceuticals worth $4,657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,674,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,153,000 after acquiring an additional 687,471 shares during the period. Deep Track Capital LP lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.3% in the third quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 8,000,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,049,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,382 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 46.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,976,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,898,995 shares during the period. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,186,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,158,000 after acquiring an additional 756,317 shares during the period. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 96.0% in the third quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,650,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,975,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298,055 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APLS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Roth Mkm lowered shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $24.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.72.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $41.03 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.23 and a beta of -0.24. The company has a quick ratio of 3.16, a current ratio of 3.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $34.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.66. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.10 and a 52 week high of $41.14.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.29) by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $268.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.91 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 12.06% and a return on equity of 39.71%. Sell-side analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.14 EPS for the current year.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.