Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts' consensus is "Hold": 23 analysts cover Apellis (2 sell, 18 hold, 3 buy) with an average 12‑month price target of $34.89.
• Apellis beat the quarter on EPS ($0.47 vs. est. -$0.39) with $199.9M revenue but revenue fell 5.9% YoY and analysts still forecast -$1.23 EPS for the fiscal year, while the stock trades at a high PE (~315).
• Heavy institutional ownership: hedge funds and other institutions own 96.29% of the stock, which is trading near its 52‑week high (~$41) with a market cap of about $5.24B, suggesting concentrated positioning versus analyst targets.

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the twenty-three ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.8947.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on APLS shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $24.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen cut Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. William Blair cut Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Bank of America upgraded Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $28.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut Apellis Pharmaceuticals from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $26.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Friday, April 17th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in APLS. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 206.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,037 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 141.2% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,682 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 64.1% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,194 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 857 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at about $64,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 338.5% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,429 shares of the company's stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 4,191 shares during the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of APLS opened at $40.97 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $29.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.24. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $16.10 and a fifty-two week high of $41.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a PE ratio of 315.18 and a beta of -0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 2.70 and a current ratio of 3.14.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by $0.86. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 2.23% and a return on equity of 8.20%. The firm had revenue of $199.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $199.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.29) EPS. The company's revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc, traded as NASDAQ:APLS, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies targeting the complement cascade for the treatment of rare and debilitating diseases. The company's research and development efforts center on modulating complement proteins to address a range of ophthalmologic, hematologic and renal conditions. Apellis leverages its proprietary compstatin technology platform to design targeted inhibitors intended to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

The company's lead marketed product, Syfovre (pegcetacoplan), is an intravitreal complement C3 inhibitor approved for geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration, with ongoing investigations in other retinal disorders.

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