Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) by 84.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,885 shares of the company’s stock after selling 71,719 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals were worth $494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in APLS. Simplicity Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% in the second quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 78,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,021,000 after buying an additional 499 shares during the period. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth about $29,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 8.3% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 11.6% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 4.7% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 20,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,179,000 after acquiring an additional 903 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APLS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush boosted their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, HC Wainwright lowered their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.24, for a total transaction of $1,451,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 136,998 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,375,801.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APLS opened at $37.62 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $38.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 4.18 and a current ratio of 5.08. The firm has a market cap of $4.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.84 and a beta of 0.88. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.49 and a 1 year high of $73.80.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.03. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 138.32% and a negative net margin of 52.99%. The firm had revenue of $199.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.89 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.02) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 110.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Profile

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).