Eastern Bank Cuts Position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $APLS

Key Points

• Eastern Bank reduced its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 53.5%, ending up with 10,000 shares valued at approximately $173,000 after selling 11,500 shares in the second quarter.
• Insiders, including General Counsel David O. Watson and CEO Cedric Francois, sold significant shares, with Watson selling 5,000 shares and Francois offloading 49,963 shares, indicating a total insider sale of 293,454 shares over the last 90 days.
• Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock is down 2.2%, currently trading at around $25.15, with a market cap of $3.18 billion and a projected earnings per share of -1.7 for the current fiscal year.

Eastern Bank cut its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Free Report) by 53.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,000 shares of the company's stock after selling 11,500 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank's holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals were worth $173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.9% during the 1st quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 3,185 shares of the company's stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 15.6% during the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,855 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 655 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 80.0% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 855 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,529 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,214,000 after buying an additional 864 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 1,221 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.34, for a total value of $121,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 118,730 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,889,888.20. This trade represents a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 49,963 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.39, for a total transaction of $1,418,449.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 307,946 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 293,454 shares of company stock valued at $7,881,527. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.2%

NASDAQ:APLS opened at $25.15 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.82 and a beta of 0.69. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.10 and a fifty-two week high of $35.72. 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 company's 50-day simple moving average is $25.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.11.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley upped 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. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $33.29.

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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