Polar Capital Holdings Plc Grows Stock Holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)

Polar Capital Holdings Plc grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) by 45.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,577,175 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 495,175 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc owned 1.27% of Apellis Pharmaceuticals worth $50,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 18.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 255,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,381,000 after acquiring an additional 39,019 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 135.6% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $949,000 after buying an additional 17,115 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $254,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3,862.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 104,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,328,000 after acquiring an additional 101,655 shares in the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 26,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $842,000 after acquiring an additional 2,956 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of APLS stock opened at $16.70 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.23 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 4.36, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $20.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.85. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.41 and a twelve month high of $43.99.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.74) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.36) by ($0.38). The business had revenue of $149.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.61 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 34.97% and a negative return on equity of 103.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.54) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.10, for a total value of $139,781.90. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 138,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,482,123. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on APLS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Raymond James downgraded Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $75.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Friday, May 9th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $23.00 in a report on Friday, May 9th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.42.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Company 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).