Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $85.00 target price on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on APLS. HC Wainwright dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $83.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group dropped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $86.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a buy rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $57.00 to $48.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Four 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $70.80.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ APLS opened at $32.51 on Friday. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $31.00 and a 1-year high of $73.80. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.40 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 5.08 and a quick ratio of 4.18.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $190.89 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.02) EPS. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 110.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total value of $1,340,510.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,623,000. 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APLS. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at $29,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at $89,000. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 300.0% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 299.9% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $205,000. 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).