David Watson Sells 5,780 Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Stock

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) General Counsel David Watson sold 5,780 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total value of $128,258.20. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 98,838 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,193,215.22. This represents a 5.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of APLS stock traded up $0.20 on Thursday, hitting $20.53. 2,191,474 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,495,767. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.23 and a beta of 0.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.41. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $16.10 and a one year high of $31.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 3.10 and a current ratio of 3.54.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.64. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 4.43% and a return on equity of 18.94%. The business had revenue of $458.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $364.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.46) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 133.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on APLS shares. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, December 15th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $19.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.65.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 58,856 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,019,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 11,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 6.9% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 8,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 15.6% during the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 80.0% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc, traded as NASDAQ:APLS, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies targeting the complement cascade for the treatment of rare and debilitating diseases. The company’s research and development efforts center on modulating complement proteins to address a range of ophthalmologic, hematologic and renal conditions. Apellis leverages its proprietary compstatin technology platform to design targeted inhibitors intended to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

The company’s lead marketed product, Syfovre (pegcetacoplan), is an intravitreal complement C3 inhibitor approved for geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration, with ongoing investigations in other retinal disorders.