Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) General Counsel David O. Watson Sells 2,201 Shares

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) General Counsel David O. Watson sold 2,201 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.96, for a total transaction of $65,941.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 105,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,162,427.80. The trade was a 2.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:APLS opened at $30.39 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $31.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.25. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $24.34 and a one year 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 capitalization of $3.78 billion, a PE ratio of -14.97 and a beta of 0.94.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released 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). The company had revenue of $196.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $200.00 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The business’s revenue was up 78.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.17) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 42.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 134,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,161,000 after acquiring an additional 39,931 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 735,160 shares during the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 90.7% during the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 42,968 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,648,000 after purchasing an additional 20,435 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 137.8% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 123,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,742,000 after purchasing an additional 71,650 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,370,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on APLS. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. William Blair initiated coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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).