Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Receives $33.94 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings 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 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $33.9412.

Several analysts have weighed in on APLS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the company from $26.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 6th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 10,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.03, for a total transaction of $280,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 110,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,109,536.08. This trade represents a 8.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 31,092 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.72, for a total value of $737,502.24. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,837 shares in the company, valued at $91,013.64. This represents a 89.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 56,092 shares of company stock worth $1,366,652 over the last quarter. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of APLS. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 80.0% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 206.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 141.2% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 64.1% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth approximately $64,000. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.9%

APLS stock opened at $25.86 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of 83.42 and a beta of 0.37. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.03. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $16.10 and a fifty-two week high of $35.57. The company has a quick ratio of 3.10, a current ratio of 3.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.64. The firm 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%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 133.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.46) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 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.