Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on APLS. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.06.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $19.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 3.54 and a quick ratio of 3.16. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $16.10 and a 1-year high of $35.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.13 and a beta of 0.70. The company’s 50-day moving average is $24.73 and its 200 day moving average is $21.79.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.64. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 18.94% and a net margin of 4.43%.The business had revenue of $458.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $364.58 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.46) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 133.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 31,092 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.72, for a total transaction of $737,502.24. Following the sale, the director owned 3,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $91,013.64. This trade represents a 89.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.22, for a total value of $126,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 113,730 shares in the company, valued at $2,868,270.60. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 312,921 shares of company stock worth $8,490,866 over the last quarter. Insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3,938.7% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,221 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 80.0% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 206.8% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 141.2% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. 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).