Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Shares Purchased by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Free Report) by 324.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,762 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 25,806 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals were worth $738,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,222,222 shares of the company's stock valued at $390,011,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111,111 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,046,025 shares of the company's stock worth $320,569,000 after purchasing an additional 230,450 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 127.2% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,856,442 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,239,000 after buying an additional 1,039,182 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,838,952 shares of the company's stock worth $58,699,000 after purchasing an additional 28,426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,778,377 shares of the company's stock valued at $56,748,000 after acquiring an additional 30,867 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:APLS opened at $19.28 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.50 and a beta of 0.68. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.10 and a 1-year high of $43.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 4.36 and a quick ratio of 3.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $18.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.61.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.74) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.36) by ($0.38). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The company had revenue of $149.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.61 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.54) earnings per share. Apellis Pharmaceuticals's revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APLS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $49.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $40.05.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals 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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