Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $65.41.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, October 25th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:APLS opened at $27.26 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.88 and a beta of 0.87. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $26.28 and a one year high of $73.80. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $32.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 5.08 and a quick ratio of 4.18.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.30) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $199.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.89 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 52.99% and a negative return on equity of 138.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 110.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($1.02) EPS. Analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total transaction of $1,340,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,623,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of APLS. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 191.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,144,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,845,000 after purchasing an additional 1,409,707 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 47.7% during the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,401,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,750,000 after purchasing an additional 452,753 shares in the last quarter. Iron Triangle Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth $32,329,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 6.9% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 345,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,242,000 after purchasing an additional 22,273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Altitude Crest Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 88.7% during the first quarter. Altitude Crest Partners Inc. now owns 287,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,886,000 after purchasing an additional 135,077 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

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).