Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Roth Mkm

Roth Mkm started coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. Roth Mkm’s price target suggests a potential upside of 65.25% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.63.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $18.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 204,925 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,846,414. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $16.10 and a 12 month high of $30.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.04 and a 200 day moving average of $23.35. The company has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a PE ratio of 144.26 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 3.14 and a quick ratio of 2.70.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.86. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 8.20% and a net margin of 2.23%.The company had revenue of $199.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.28 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.29) earnings per share. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 27,192 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total transaction of $591,969.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 286,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,227,199.65. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 5,928 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total transaction of $129,052.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,151,382 shares in the company, valued at $25,065,586.14. This trade represents a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 120,537 shares of company stock worth $2,608,532. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,674,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,153,000 after buying an additional 687,471 shares in the last quarter. Deep Track Capital LP grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 8,000,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,049,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,382 shares in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $192,589,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 46.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,976,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,898,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,613,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,890,000 after acquiring an additional 575,802 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.