Arizona State Retirement System Purchases 2,473 Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,013 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,473 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals were worth $844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 47.7% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,401,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,750,000 after acquiring an additional 452,753 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.2% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 123,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,740,000 after acquiring an additional 2,644 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 300.0% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares in the last quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 23.3% in the second quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 114,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,384,000 after buying an additional 21,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth about $907,000. 96.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of APLS opened at $37.62 on Friday. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $33.49 and a one year high of $73.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.87 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 5.08 and a quick ratio of 4.18. The business has a fifty day moving average of $38.14 and a 200 day moving average of $44.80.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.03. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 52.99% and a negative return on equity of 138.32%. The firm had revenue of $199.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.89 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.02) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 110.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.29 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.24, for a total transaction of $1,451,880.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 136,998 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,375,801.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on APLS shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $57.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $64.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, August 9th. Four 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 MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.67.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals 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).