Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Given Buy Rating at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reiterated their buy rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $57.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $43.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.65.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $27.69 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a PE ratio of -13.64 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 4.36, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $24.34 and a 12 month high of $71.90. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $31.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.48.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.46) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $196.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $200.00 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The company’s revenue was up 78.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.17) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 2,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.70, for a total transaction of $62,279.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,528,470. The trade was a 2.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 6,247 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.70, for a total transaction of $179,288.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 307,415 shares in the company, valued at $8,822,810.50. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,308 shares of company stock worth $511,406 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Braidwell LP grew its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 410.8% in the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 3,125,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,130,000 after buying an additional 2,513,383 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 191.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,144,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,845,000 after acquiring an additional 1,409,707 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,884,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,036,000 after acquiring an additional 735,160 shares during the last quarter. Sphera Funds Management LTD. bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at $6,226,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 337.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 246,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,177,000 after acquiring an additional 190,420 shares in the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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).