Insider Selling: Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) CEO Sells 1,900 Shares of Stock

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) CEO Cedric Francois sold 1,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.09, for a total transaction of $38,171.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 342,333 shares in the company, valued at $6,877,469.97. This trade represents a 0.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Cedric Francois also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, July 14th, Cedric Francois sold 137,465 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $2,775,418.35.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.5%

NASDAQ:APLS opened at $20.04 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.20 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 3.62 and a current ratio of 4.08. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.10 and a fifty-two week high of $41.94. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.73.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.74) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.36) by ($0.38). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 99.19% and a negative net margin of 28.83%. The company had revenue of $149.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.61 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.54) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 882,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,170,000 after purchasing an additional 22,507 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 147.8% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,625,000 after purchasing an additional 44,332 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 212,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,793,000 after purchasing an additional 21,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1,795.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,235 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 9,695 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $52.00 in a report on Friday, May 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $44.00 price objective for the company. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.84.

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).