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

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $57.00 price target on the stock. HC Wainwright’s target price indicates a potential upside of 99.37% from the stock’s previous close.

APLS has been the topic of several other research reports. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, November 4th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $61.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.65.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 4.2 %

Shares of APLS opened at $28.59 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.08 and a beta of 0.94. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $24.34 and a 1 year high of $71.90. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 4.36 and a quick ratio of 3.73.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.46) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by ($0.14). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 34.97% and a negative return on equity of 103.11%. The business had revenue of $196.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $200.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.17) EPS. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 78.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, insider Caroline Baumal sold 2,816 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.81, for a total value of $95,208.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 55,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,878,483.60. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,884,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,036,000 after acquiring an additional 735,160 shares during the period. Braidwell LP lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 410.8% in 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 191.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,144,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,845,000 after buying an additional 1,409,707 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,810,526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,229,000 after acquiring an additional 22,609 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 956,362 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,581,000 after buying an additional 9,328 shares during the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).