Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Stock Price

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) had its target price decreased by Citigroup from $49.00 to $41.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on APLS. Bank of America downgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given 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 price target of $39.89.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ APLS opened at $17.78 on Thursday. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $16.10 and a 1 year high of $43.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $19.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.43. The firm has a market cap of $2.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.76 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a current ratio of 4.36.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.10, for a total value of $139,781.90. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 138,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,482,123. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 21,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $691,000 after buying an additional 1,864 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3,862.3% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 104,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,328,000 after buying an additional 101,655 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $445,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 255,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,381,000 after buying an additional 39,019 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 882,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,170,000 after buying an additional 22,507 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

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).