Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $APLS Shares Acquired by Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC

Key Points

• Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 43.5% in the second quarter, now owning 0.08% of the company valued at $1,838,000.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Apellis Pharmaceuticals, with Citigroup increasing it to $46.00 and Morgan Stanley to $26.00, signaling a positive outlook on the company's stock.
• In the last three months, insiders sold a total of 430,919 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, suggesting insider confidence may be wavering as the stock experiences fluctuations.

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Free Report) by 43.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 100,666 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 30,507 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC owned 0.08% of Apellis Pharmaceuticals worth $1,838,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3,938.7% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,252 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 1,221 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 80.0% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth approximately $209,000. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on APLS. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective 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. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $33.29.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.34, for a total transaction of $121,700.00. Following the sale, the general counsel 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 49,963 shares of the business's 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 307,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,742,586.94. This trade represents a 13.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 430,919 shares of company stock valued at $10,656,945 in the last three months. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

APLS stock opened at $22.37 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.13. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.29 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 3.16, a current ratio of 3.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.10 and a fifty-two week high of $35.72.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.33) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $171.39 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $187.91 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.24% and a negative return on equity of 116.09%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals's quarterly revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.30) EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share 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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