Cedric Francois Sells 137,465 Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Stock

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) CEO Cedric Francois sold 137,465 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $2,775,418.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,933,912.27. This trade represents a 28.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Cedric Francois also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, July 17th, Cedric Francois sold 19,725 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.21, for a total value of $398,642.25.
• On Tuesday, July 15th, Cedric Francois sold 1,900 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.09, for a total value of $38,171.00.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $0.57 during trading on Friday, reaching $19.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,842,831 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,369,899. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.10 and a 1-year high of $41.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.64. The company has a quick ratio of 3.62, a current ratio of 4.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. The company has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.88 and a beta of 0.67.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.74) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.36) by ($0.38). The business had revenue of $149.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $197.61 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 99.19% and a negative net margin of 28.83%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals's revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.54) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in APLS. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 21,649 shares of the company's stock worth $691,000 after acquiring an additional 1,864 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 882,801 shares of the company's stock worth $28,170,000 after purchasing an additional 22,507 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 147.8% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,325 shares of the company's stock worth $1,625,000 after purchasing an additional 44,332 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 212,887 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,793,000 after buying an additional 21,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1,795.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,235 shares of the company's stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 9,695 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APLS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $44.00 price target on the stock. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $40.00.

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).