James George Chopas Sells 783 Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Stock

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) CAO James George Chopas sold 783 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.70, for a total transaction of $22,472.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 37,358 shares in the company, valued at $1,072,174.60. The trade was a 2.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

APLS stock opened at $29.03 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.34 and a 1 year high of $71.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $31.86 and a 200 day moving average of $33.45. The company has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.30 and a beta of 0.94.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $254,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 135.6% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $949,000 after acquiring an additional 17,115 shares during the period. Eastern Bank grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 87.0% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 21,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $686,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 23.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,884,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,036,000 after purchasing an additional 735,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exome Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 114.0% during the third quarter. Exome Asset Management LLC now owns 100,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,895,000 after purchasing an additional 53,467 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on APLS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI raised Apellis Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.65.

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).