Apellis Pharmaceuticals’ (APLS) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at HC Wainwright

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by research analysts at HC Wainwright in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $57.00 price target on the stock. HC Wainwright’s target price suggests a potential upside of 126.64% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on APLS. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $61.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.71.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $25.15 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $29.88 and a 200-day moving average of $31.51. The company has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a PE ratio of -12.39 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 4.36, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $24.33 and a 1-year high of $66.00.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $212.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.92 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The company’s revenue was up 45.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.73) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 2,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.70, for a total transaction of $62,279.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,100 shares in the company, valued at $2,528,470. The trade was a 2.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Caroline Baumal sold 2,816 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.81, for a total value of $95,208.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 55,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,878,483.60. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 60,365 shares of company stock worth $1,810,479. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Braidwell LP increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 410.8% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 3,125,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,130,000 after purchasing an additional 2,513,383 shares in the last quarter. Boxer Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,504,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 266,361.5% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,385,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,214,000 after buying an additional 1,385,080 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 969.6% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,518,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,465,000 after buying an additional 1,376,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $41,014,000. 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).