Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Buys New Position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 13,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of APLS. Braidwell LP boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 410.8% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 3,125,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,130,000 after acquiring an additional 2,513,383 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 51.6% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,760,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,084,000 after acquiring an additional 939,289 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,884,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,036,000 after acquiring an additional 735,160 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 10,967.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 329,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,876,000 after acquiring an additional 326,604 shares during the period. Finally, Sphera Funds Management LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,226,000. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.10, for a total transaction of $139,781.90. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 138,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,482,123. This represents a 3.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Caroline Baumal sold 2,816 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.81, for a total value of $95,208.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 55,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,878,483.60. The trade was a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,117 shares of company stock worth $1,954,803 over the last three months. 6.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APLS has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Wedbush cut their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.53.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.0 %

Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $24.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 4.36 and a quick ratio of 3.73. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.77 and a 1-year high of $59.91. The company has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a PE ratio of -11.89 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $27.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.06.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.08. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The company had revenue of $212.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.73) earnings per share. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 45.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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).