Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) General Counsel Sells $20,516.40 in Stock

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) General Counsel David O. Watson sold 695 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total transaction of $20,516.40. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 144,299 shares in the company, valued at $4,259,706.48. This trade represents a 0.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 3.1 %

NASDAQ:APLS opened at $30.39 on Friday. 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. The stock has a market cap of $3.78 billion, a PE ratio of -14.97 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $32.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.95.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). 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 analyst estimates of $200.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.17) earnings per share. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 78.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on APLS shares. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $61.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target 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 reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank cut their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Eight research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.71.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APLS. Banque Pictet & Cie SA grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 97,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,105,000 after acquiring an additional 23,416 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 42.5% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 31,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,006,000 after buying an additional 9,407 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $445,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 51.6% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,760,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,084,000 after purchasing an additional 939,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 26,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $842,000 after purchasing an additional 2,956 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

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).