Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Key Points

• Apellis Pharmaceuticals has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from nineteen brokerages, with two sell recommendations, nine buy recommendations, and one strong buy.
• The company's stock price recently decreased by 4.2%, with a current trading price of $24.15 and an average price target among analysts at approximately $33.47.
• Director A. Sinclair Dunlop significantly reduced their holdings by selling over 31,000 shares for a total of $737,502, which reflects an 89.01% decrease in their position.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the nineteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $33.4706.

A number of research analysts recently commented on APLS shares. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 31,092 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.72, for a total value of $737,502.24. Following the sale, the director owned 3,837 shares of the company's stock, valued at $91,013.64. The trade was a 89.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.34, for a total value of $121,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 118,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,889,888.20. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 297,921 shares of company stock valued at $8,084,466 in the last quarter. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 58,856 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,019,000 after buying an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.9% during the 1st quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 3,185 shares of the company's stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,855 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 80.0% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,529 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,214,000 after buying an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company's stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 4.2%

NASDAQ APLS opened at $24.15 on Friday. The stock's 50 day moving average is $25.38 and its 200 day moving average is $21.17. The company has a current ratio of 3.77, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $16.10 and a 12 month high of $35.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of -13.27 and a beta of 0.69.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.33) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.11. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 116.09% and a negative net margin of 30.24%.The company had revenue of $171.39 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $187.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.30) EPS. The firm's revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. 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).

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