Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Now Covered by Analysts at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a peer perform rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on APLS. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $26.00 to $18.00 in a report on Friday, September 26th. HC Wainwright reduced their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $57.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.06.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.3%

NASDAQ APLS traded down $0.45 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $19.26. 5,097,291 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,381,745. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $16.10 and a 1-year high of $35.72. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.75. The company has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.13 and a beta of 0.70.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 4.43% and a return on equity of 18.94%. The business had revenue of $458.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $364.58 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.46) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 133.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 175,037 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.19, for a total value of $4,934,293.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 357,909 shares in the company, valued at $10,089,454.71. This trade represents a 32.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.22, for a total value of $126,100.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 113,730 shares in the company, valued at $2,868,270.60. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 312,921 shares of company stock valued at $8,490,866. 6.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 58,856 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,019,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 6.9% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 8,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 15.6% in the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 80.0% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,214,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

About Apellis Pharmaceuticals

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).