Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Buy Rating for Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS)

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $85.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 161.46% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on APLS. UBS Group dropped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. HC Wainwright lowered their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.80.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of APLS opened at $32.51 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.18, a current ratio of 5.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $31.00 and a 52-week high of $73.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.65. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a PE ratio of -9.40 and a beta of 0.88.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $199.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.89 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 52.99% and a negative return on equity of 138.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 110.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($1.02) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total value of $1,340,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,623,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $281,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,640,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 52.6% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 17,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,038,000 after buying an additional 5,975 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,755,000. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 29,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,784,000 after buying an additional 5,250 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).