Swiss National Bank Trims Stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $APLS

Key Points

• The Swiss National Bank has reduced its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 7.7%, owning now 132,600 shares worth approximately $2.9 million.
• Analysts have set varied price targets for Apellis Pharmaceuticals, with Citigroup increasing its target from $41.00 to $46.00 and assigning a "buy" rating.
• Apellis Pharmaceuticals reported earnings of ($0.33) EPS, exceeding estimates, despite a 10.6% year-over-year revenue decline to $171.39 million.

Swiss National Bank cut its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Free Report) by 7.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 132,600 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.11% of Apellis Pharmaceuticals worth $2,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of APLS. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 89.0% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,107 shares of the company's stock valued at $195,000 after purchasing an additional 2,876 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $1,564,000. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 9,785 shares of the company's stock valued at $312,000 after buying an additional 2,649 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 292.4% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 85,495 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,728,000 after buying an additional 63,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $1,123,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $34.12.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of APLS traded up $0.17 on Tuesday, reaching $27.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 444,173 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,293,424. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $21.15 and a 200-day moving average of $21.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of -15.21 and a beta of 0.78. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.10 and a twelve month high of $41.94. The company has a current ratio of 3.77, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.33) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $171.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.91 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.30) EPS. Apellis Pharmaceuticals's revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 123,730 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,439,694. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 137,465 shares of the company'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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,433 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,933,912.27. The trade was a 28.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 174,090 shares of company stock valued at $3,542,832 over the last three months. 6.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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).