William Blair Begins Coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS)

William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) in a report published on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an outperform rating on the stock. William Blair also issued estimates for Apellis Pharmaceuticals’ Q3 2024 earnings at ($0.26) EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at ($0.16) EPS, FY2024 earnings at ($1.25) EPS and FY2025 earnings at $0.34 EPS.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on APLS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $64.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, HC Wainwright reduced their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.00.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:APLS opened at $28.00 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $34.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.51. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of -8.09 and a beta of 0.87. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $26.28 and a 52 week high of $73.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 4.18 and a current ratio of 5.08.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $199.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.89 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 138.32% and a negative net margin of 52.99%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 110.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.02) EPS. Analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total value of $1,340,510.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,623,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Iron Triangle Partners LP acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,329,000. Fiera Capital Corp grew its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 47.7% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,401,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,750,000 after acquiring an additional 452,753 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 337.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 246,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,177,000 after purchasing an additional 190,420 shares during the last quarter. Redmile Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at about $9,111,000. Finally, Senator Investment Group LP bought a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth about $8,229,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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).