Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Earns Buy Rating from HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reissued their buy rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $92.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on APLS. Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $77.93.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:APLS opened at $49.86 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $57.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.35. The company has a market cap of $6.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.13 and a beta of 0.88. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $19.83 and a fifty-two week high of $94.75.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.17, for a total value of $3,743,526.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,115,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,452,799.11. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.17, for a total value of $3,743,526.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,115,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,452,799.11. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.66, for a total value of $234,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,475,207.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 381,011 shares of company stock valued at $23,463,657 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 7.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in APLS. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 79.8% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,542,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,746,000 after buying an additional 1,571,606 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 109.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,145,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121,497 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $56,640,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,460,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,277,000 after purchasing an additional 677,098 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 126.6% during the 3rd quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 1,053,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,089,000 after purchasing an additional 588,875 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

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).