Old West Investment Management LLC Acquires 14,569 Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $APLS

Key Points

• Old West Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 12.8% during the first quarter, owning a total of 128,192 shares valued at approximately $2.8 million.
• Apellis Pharmaceuticals reported earnings of ($0.33) per share, outperforming analyst expectations, though their revenue for the quarter fell short at $171.39 million.
• Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals have seen a 1.3% increase recently, with the stock showing a market cap of $3.53 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.37.

Old West Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Free Report) by 12.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 128,192 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,569 shares during the period. Old West Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Apellis Pharmaceuticals worth $2,804,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in APLS. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3,938.7% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,252 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,221 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. increased its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.9% during the first quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 3,185 shares of the company's stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 32.8% during the first quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 9,554 shares of the company's stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 2,359 shares in the last quarter. Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

APLS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $34.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 49,963 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.39, for a total transaction of $1,418,449.57. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 307,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,742,586.94. The trade was a 13.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total transaction of $139,000.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 123,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,439,694. This trade represents a 3.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 399,090 shares of company stock valued at $9,895,574. Insiders own 6.50% of the company's stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of APLS stock traded down $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $27.57. 1,552,075 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,432,619. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.10 and a 12 month high of $41.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $21.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a current ratio of 3.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a PE ratio of -15.15 and a beta of 0.78.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.11. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.24% and a negative return on equity of 116.09%. The firm had revenue of $171.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.30) EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current 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).