Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Receives “Buy” Rating from HC Wainwright

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $92.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright’s target price suggests a potential upside of 82.21% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $57.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.93.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:APLS traded up $2.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $50.49. The stock had a trading volume of 596,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,468,016. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $19.83 and a twelve month high of $94.75. The stock has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.31 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a current ratio of 3.10.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.73) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.73). The firm had revenue of $146.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $143.34 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 133.34% and a negative return on equity of 178.60%. The business’s revenue was up 545.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.50) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.11, for a total value of $16,027,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 313,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,108,870.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.17, for a total value of $3,743,526.19. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,115,983 shares in the company, valued at $60,452,799.11. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.11, for a total transaction of $16,027,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 313,662 shares in the company, valued at $20,108,870.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 381,011 shares of company stock valued at $23,463,657 over the last three months. 7.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 69.0% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 649 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 564.2% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC bought a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 29.3% during the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares during the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).