Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Downgraded by Citigroup to Hold

Citigroup downgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on APLS. Roth Mkm started coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, March 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $41.00 price target (up from $37.00) on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ APLS opened at $40.39 on Tuesday. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $16.10 and a twelve month high of $40.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.70, a current ratio of 3.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 310.72 and a beta of 0.26. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.71.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $199.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.28 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 2.23% and a return on equity of 8.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.29) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 27,192 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total transaction of $591,969.84. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 5,928 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total value of $129,052.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,151,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,065,586.14. The trade was a 0.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 115,537 shares of company stock valued at $2,486,082 in the last ninety days. 6.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,674,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,153,000 after buying an additional 687,471 shares in the last quarter. Deep Track Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.3% in the third quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 8,000,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,049,000 after buying an additional 1,000,382 shares during the last quarter. RTW Investments LP acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $192,589,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 46.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,976,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,898,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,613,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,890,000 after acquiring an additional 575,802 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Here are the key news stories impacting Apellis Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Biogen agreed to acquire Apellis for about $5.6 billion, offering $41.00/share in cash plus a non-transferable CVR tied to SYFOVRE sales — this is the main driver of the large share rally. Biogen to buy Apellis for $5.6B (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage updates pushed some price targets up to the deal level (Barclays raised its PT to $41 from $24), which supports the takeover valuation. Barclays raises PT to $41 (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Several firms reiterated neutral/market‑perform ratings with price targets clustered near $41, reflecting the deal price rather than new upside from standalone operations. Analyst reaffirms (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: APLS saw extremely high intraday volume and a multi‑day surge after the deal announcement; such spikes often normalize as the market digests deal terms and regulatory/closing risk. APLS moves 135% higher (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple shareholder law firms have opened investigations and flagged potential challenges to the adequacy of the $41 per‑share price and the sale process — this creates legal/closing risk and could pressure sentiment. M&A class action investigation (PR Newswire)
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades followed the deal news: Needham cut APLS from Buy to Hold and JP Morgan issued a downgrade in subsequent coverage — these moves can weigh on near‑term trading, especially if analysts see limited upside beyond the deal price. Needham downgrades to Hold (American Banking News) JP Morgan downgrades (MSN)

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.