Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) CAO Sells $14,367.54 in Stock

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) CAO James George Chopas sold 726 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.79, for a total value of $14,367.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 51,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,026,487.51. This trade represents a 1.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

James George Chopas also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, January 22nd, James George Chopas sold 2,064 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total transaction of $44,933.28.
• On Tuesday, January 13th, James George Chopas sold 873 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.19, for a total value of $19,371.87.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.1%

Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $21.76 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $23.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.52. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.10 and a 52 week high of $30.91. The stock has a market cap of $2.75 billion, a PE ratio of 70.18 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 3.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.64. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 4.43% and a return on equity of 18.94%. The company had revenue of $458.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $364.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.46) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 133.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on APLS. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Mizuho cut their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $24.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, January 12th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.53.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Deep Track Capital LP boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.3% during the third quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 8,000,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,049,000 after buying an additional 1,000,382 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 46.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,976,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,452,000 after purchasing an additional 1,898,995 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 11,373.8% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,704,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,681,263 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,661,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,076,000 after buying an additional 184,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 96.0% during the third quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,650,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,975,000 after buying an additional 1,298,055 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Key Apellis Pharmaceuticals News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apellis Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BofA upgraded APLS to Buy and cited a stronger-than-expected launch trajectory for Apellis’s newly approved kidney-disease therapy, assigning a $28 price target — a vote of confidence that implies material upside if commercial momentum continues. Apellis Raised to Buy at Bank of America
• Positive Sentiment: An analyst note highlights early uptake of Empaveli and argues current valuation understates its revenue potential; continued strong launch metrics could drive a re‑rating and support upside from current levels. Apellis Valuation Ignores Empaveli Potential, Says Analyst
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo trimmed its price target (from $29 to $26) but kept an Overweight rating — a mixed signal that reduces upside expectations while leaving institutional support intact. Wells Fargo lowers price target on Apellis
• Neutral Sentiment: RBC Capital reiterated a Hold rating, a neutral stance that may temper buying interest from investors seeking stronger analyst conviction. RBC Capital Sticks to Its Hold Rating for Apellis Pharmaceuticals (APLS)
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple senior insiders — including CEO Cedric Francois, CFO Timothy Sullivan, General Counsel David Watson and others — filed Form 4 sales on Jan. 20–22 (large, clustered disposals totaling many tens of thousands of shares). Even if routine (diversification or option-related), clustered executive selling typically weighs on near‑term sentiment and likely contributed to the stock decline. See CEO filing for details. CEO Cedric Francois Form 4

About Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc, traded as NASDAQ:APLS, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies targeting the complement cascade for the treatment of rare and debilitating diseases. The company’s research and development efforts center on modulating complement proteins to address a range of ophthalmologic, hematologic and renal conditions. Apellis leverages its proprietary compstatin technology platform to design targeted inhibitors intended to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

The company’s lead marketed product, Syfovre (pegcetacoplan), is an intravitreal complement C3 inhibitor approved for geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration, with ongoing investigations in other retinal disorders.