Robert W. Baird Downgrades Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) to Hold

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) was downgraded by equities researchers at Robert W. Baird from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Wedbush cut their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of APLS stock opened at $40.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 310.72 and a beta of 0.26. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $16.10 and a 1 year high of $40.45. The company has a current ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 2.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.71.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $199.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.28 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 8.20% and a net margin of 2.23%.The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.29) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 27,192 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total value of $591,969.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 286,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,227,199.65. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Mark Jeffrey Delong sold 3,371 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $73,386.67. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 78,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,705,744.81. The trade was a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 115,537 shares of company stock valued at $2,486,082 over the last ninety days. 6.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,674,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,153,000 after buying an additional 687,471 shares in the last quarter. Deep Track Capital LP increased its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.3% during the third quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 8,000,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,049,000 after buying an additional 1,000,382 shares in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $192,589,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 46.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,976,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,898,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,613,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,890,000 after acquiring an additional 575,802 shares in the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Apellis Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Biogen agreed to acquire Apellis for about $5.6 billion, offering $41.00/share in cash plus a non-transferable CVR tied to SYFOVRE sales — this is the main driver of the large share rally. Biogen to buy Apellis for $5.6B (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage updates pushed some price targets up to the deal level (Barclays raised its PT to $41 from $24), which supports the takeover valuation. Barclays raises PT to $41 (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Several firms reiterated neutral/market‑perform ratings with price targets clustered near $41, reflecting the deal price rather than new upside from standalone operations. Analyst reaffirms (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: APLS saw extremely high intraday volume and a multi‑day surge after the deal announcement; such spikes often normalize as the market digests deal terms and regulatory/closing risk. APLS moves 135% higher (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple shareholder law firms have opened investigations and flagged potential challenges to the adequacy of the $41 per‑share price and the sale process — this creates legal/closing risk and could pressure sentiment. M&A class action investigation (PR Newswire)
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades followed the deal news: Needham cut APLS from Buy to Hold and JP Morgan issued a downgrade in subsequent coverage — these moves can weigh on near‑term trading, especially if analysts see limited upside beyond the deal price. Needham downgrades to Hold (American Banking News) JP Morgan downgrades (MSN)

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.