Insider Selling: Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) General Counsel Sells 3,323 Shares of Stock

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) General Counsel David O. Watson sold 3,323 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.43, for a total transaction of $101,118.89. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 144,994 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,167.42. The trade was a 2.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.2 %

APLS traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $30.76. 1,345,028 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,139,207. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.25. The company has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.15 and a beta of 0.94. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.34 and a fifty-two week high of $71.90. 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32) by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $196.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $200.00 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 34.97% and a negative return on equity of 103.11%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 78.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($1.17) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APLS. Braidwell LP grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 410.8% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 3,125,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,130,000 after acquiring an additional 2,513,383 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 191.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,144,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,845,000 after acquiring an additional 1,409,707 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,884,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,036,000 after acquiring an additional 735,160 shares in the last quarter. Sphera Funds Management LTD. acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth $6,226,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 337.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 246,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,177,000 after acquiring an additional 190,420 shares in the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on APLS shares. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $26.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.71.

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).