Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Given New $50.00 Price Target at Raymond James Financial

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial has lowered its price target for Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $50.00, maintaining an "outperform" rating, suggesting a potential upside of 119.26% based on the company's current price.
• The company's recent earnings report revealed a loss of ($0.33) earnings per share, which was better than analysts’ expectations of ($0.44), but revenue fell short at $171.39 million compared to expectations of $187.91 million.
• Insider transactions show a notable decrease in ownership, with CEO Cedric Francois and General Counsel David O. Watson selling significant shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals recently.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Raymond James Financial from $52.00 to $50.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the stock. Raymond James Financial's target price suggests a potential upside of 119.26% from the company's current price.

APLS has been the topic of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $37.94.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.1%

NASDAQ APLS opened at $22.80 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of -12.78 and a beta of 0.67. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $16.10 and a fifty-two week high of $41.94. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $18.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.91. The company has a quick ratio of 3.62, a current ratio of 4.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $171.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $187.91 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 99.19% and a negative net margin of 28.83%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals's quarterly revenue was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.30) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 19,725 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.21, for a total value of $398,642.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 331,605 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,701,737.05. This trade represents a 5.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.55, for a total value of $97,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 128,730 shares in the company, valued at $2,516,671.50. This represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 169,090 shares of company stock worth $3,403,832 over the last ninety days. 6.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APLS. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $504,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% in 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 during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $34,662,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,838,952 shares of the company's stock worth $58,699,000 after buying an additional 28,426 shares during the period. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $6,478,000. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).

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