Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Trading 7.5% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) shares shot up 7.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Barclays upgraded the stock to a hold rating. The stock traded as high as $23.79 and last traded at $23.45. 1,865,689 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 2,990,746 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.81.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $39.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.00.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, insider Nur Nicholson sold 7,725 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total transaction of $168,173.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 71,118 shares in the company, valued at $1,548,238.86. The trade was a 9.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 5,928 shares of the company’s 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 $129,052.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,151,382 shares in the company, valued at $25,065,586.14. The trade was a 0.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 125,169 shares of company stock worth $2,700,681. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 207.4% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 29,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $667,000 after acquiring an additional 19,944 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 26.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 307,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,730,000 after buying an additional 64,742 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 4.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 222,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,869,000 after buying an additional 9,747 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 118.4% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 21,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 11,862 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1,146.2% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 23,976 shares of the company’s stock worth $522,000 after buying an additional 22,052 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.64. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 3.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.36 and a beta of 0.31.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.64. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 18.94% and a net margin of 4.43%.The firm had revenue of $458.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $364.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.46) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 133.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share 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.