Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Shares Up 6.6% – Here’s What Happened

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) shares shot up 6.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $22.36 and last traded at $23.31. 417,900 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 2,047,019 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.87.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

APLS has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Eight 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.59.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of -11.33 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a current ratio of 4.36. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $26.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.21.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.08. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The business had revenue of $212.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.73) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 45.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 13,551 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.43, for a total value of $412,356.93. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 418,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,735,533.17. The trade was a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,569 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.10, for a total transaction of $139,781.90. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 138,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,482,123. This represents a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,054 shares of company stock valued at $1,952,719 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,222,222 shares of the company’s stock worth $390,011,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111,111 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,046,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,569,000 after buying an additional 230,450 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 23.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,884,730 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,036,000 after buying an additional 735,160 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 939,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 127.2% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,856,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,239,000 after buying an additional 1,039,182 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

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).