Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Stock Price Down 3% on Analyst Downgrade

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) fell 3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $47.00 to $43.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Apellis Pharmaceuticals traded as low as $31.65 and last traded at $31.73. 154,620 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 1,510,224 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.72.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. HC Wainwright cut their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $96.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.20.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were 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. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $13,755,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 29,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after buying an additional 5,250 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 30.3% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 483,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,932,000 after buying an additional 112,465 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth approximately $639,000. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 44,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,683,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.5 %

The company’s 50-day moving average is $37.34 and its 200 day moving average is $43.01. The company has a current ratio of 5.08, a quick ratio of 4.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of -8.84 and a beta of 0.88.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.03. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 138.32% and a negative net margin of 52.99%. The company had revenue of $199.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.02) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 110.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.34 EPS for the current year.

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).