Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,590,000 shares, an increase of 5.3% from the February 29th total of 10,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,580,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.7 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Caroline Baumal sold 2,751 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.05, for a total transaction of $165,197.55. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,977,506.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 18,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.18, for a total value of $1,068,179.58. Following the sale, the director now owns 173,998 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,949,205.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Caroline Baumal sold 2,751 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.05, for a total value of $165,197.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,931 shares in the company, valued at $1,977,506.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 355,923 shares of company stock worth $22,596,035. Insiders own 7.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,555,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $572,003,000 after acquiring an additional 85,701 shares during the period. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $222,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $12,558,000. FIL Ltd bought a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $340,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 38.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,460,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,277,000 after buying an additional 677,098 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APLS has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.93.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

APLS stock opened at $55.70 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $63.04 and a 200-day moving average of $56.34. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $19.83 and a 12-month high of $94.75. The firm has a market cap of $6.72 billion, a PE ratio of -12.43 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 3.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.73) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.73). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 178.60% and a negative net margin of 133.34%. The business had revenue of $146.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $143.34 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.50) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 545.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.36 earnings per share for the current 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).