Evercore ISI Upgrades Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) to “Strong-Buy”

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Thursday, Zacks.com reports.

APLS has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. HC Wainwright reduced their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. William Blair started coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, October 25th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.41.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:APLS opened at $27.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.21 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 4.18, a current ratio of 5.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $26.28 and a 12-month high of $73.80. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.53.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $199.70 million for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 110.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.02) EPS. Analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,623,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in APLS. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $56,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth $89,000. nVerses Capital LLC raised its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 300.0% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 299.9% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

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).