Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Short Interest Down 16.0% in January

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 18,040,000 shares, a decrease of 16.0% from the December 31st total of 21,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.0 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on APLS. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $61.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $43.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO James George Chopas sold 1,096 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.43, for a total value of $33,351.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 48,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,464,839.34. This trade represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 6,247 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.70, for a total value of $179,288.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 307,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,822,810.50. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 60,002 shares of company stock valued at $1,800,119. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wolverine Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth about $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth about $56,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 781 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ APLS traded down $0.45 on Monday, reaching $28.56. 164,679 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,885,962. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.07 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $32.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.76. Apellis Pharmaceuticals 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 quick ratio of 3.73 and a current ratio of 4.36.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32) by ($0.14). The business 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 78.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.17) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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).