Brokerages Set Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) PT at $33.53

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and twelve have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $33.5294.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, December 29th. HC Wainwright dropped their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, insider Mark Jeffrey Delong sold 3,371 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total value of $73,386.67. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 78,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,705,744.81. This trade represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Caroline Baumal sold 2,797 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total transaction of $60,890.69. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 86,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,883,692.79. The trade was a 3.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 125,169 shares of company stock valued at $2,700,681. 6.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in APLS. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 25,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $637,000 after acquiring an additional 4,047 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 25.9% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 51,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,305,000 after purchasing an additional 3,804 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 35.9% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 567,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,244,000 after purchasing an additional 149,654 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $476,000. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of APLS stock opened at $21.81 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 3.10 and a current ratio of 3.54. The stock has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 70.36 and a beta of 0.31. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $16.10 and a 1 year high of $30.60.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.64. The business had revenue of $458.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $364.58 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 4.43% and a return on equity of 18.94%. The company’s revenue was up 133.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.46) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.