Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Short Interest Down 5.9% in November

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 21,810,000 shares, a decrease of 5.9% from the November 15th total of 23,180,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,240,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.7 days.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of APLS. HighVista Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 7,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 6,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 34.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.6% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 781 shares during the period. Finally, Wolverine Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $34.53 on Wednesday. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $24.34 and a fifty-two week high of $73.80. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $29.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.67. The stock has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.93 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a current ratio of 4.36.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $196.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 78.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($1.17) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. William Blair began coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $43.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.94.

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).