Insider Selling: Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) General Counsel Sells 4,965 Shares of Stock

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) General Counsel David O. Watson sold 4,965 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.70, for a total value of $142,495.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 107,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,092,597.20. This trade represents a 4.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APLS opened at $29.03 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a PE ratio of -14.30 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 4.36 and a quick ratio of 3.73. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $31.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.45. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.34 and a fifty-two week high of $71.90.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $196.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $200.00 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 34.97% and a negative return on equity of 103.11%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 78.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.17) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 42.2% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 134,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,161,000 after purchasing an additional 39,931 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,884,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,036,000 after purchasing an additional 735,160 shares during the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 90.7% in the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 42,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,648,000 after purchasing an additional 20,435 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 137.8% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 123,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,742,000 after purchasing an additional 71,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 240.4% in the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 54,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,093,000 after purchasing an additional 38,541 shares during the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on APLS shares. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $63.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Apellis Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.65.

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).