Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS – Get Rating) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $90.93.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $112.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Wedbush increased their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $51.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $88.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Monday, May 8th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $123.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.66, for a total value of $2,569,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 274,655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,526,947.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.66, for a total transaction of $2,569,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 274,655 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,526,947.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.79, for a total transaction of $765,480.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,020,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,117,661.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,250 shares of company stock worth $10,843,030 in the last three months. 7.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at $23,571,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at $64,648,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,030,000 after purchasing an additional 34,201 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,226,000. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,421,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,182,000 after purchasing an additional 38,028 shares during the period. 87.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

APLS opened at $85.15 on Friday. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $37.66 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.92 billion, a PE ratio of -13.58 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 6.27 and a current ratio of 6.88. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.56.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The company reported ($1.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.42) by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $44.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.10 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 225.82% and a negative net margin of 652.50%. The business’s revenue was up 211.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.42) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -5.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company, which engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapeutic compounds to treat diseases with high unmet needs. The company was founded by Candace Rose Depp, Pascal Deschatelets, Cedric Francois, and Alec Machiels on September 25, 2009 and is headquartered in Waltham, MA.