Invesco Ltd. Acquires 37,741 Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $APLS

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 6.3%, acquiring an additional 37,741 shares for a total of 641,397 shares valued at approximately $14 million.
• Several institutional investors have also enhanced their positions in Apellis, notably Royal Bank of Canada, which increased its ownership by 969.6%, bringing its total shares to 1,518,827.
• Apellis Pharmaceuticals reported a quarterly loss of ($0.33) EPS, slightly better than analyst expectations, but its revenue of $171.39 million missed estimates of $187.91 million.

Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Free Report) by 6.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 641,397 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 37,741 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 0.51% of Apellis Pharmaceuticals worth $14,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 878.6% during the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 131,895 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,885,000 after purchasing an additional 118,417 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,130,356 shares of the company's stock valued at $221,551,000 after purchasing an additional 84,331 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted 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. ING Groep NV purchased a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at approximately $4,028,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.2% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 41,533 shares of the company's stock valued at $908,000 after purchasing an additional 5,175 shares during the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the business's 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 completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 123,730 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,439,694. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 19,725 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.21, for a total transaction of $398,642.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 331,605 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,701,737.05. The trade was a 5.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 174,090 shares of company stock valued at $3,542,832. Company insiders own 6.50% of the company's stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

APLS traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $28.05. 1,071,714 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,729,061. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.41 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 3.16, a current ratio of 3.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90. The company's fifty day moving average price is $21.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.39. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.10 and a 52-week high of $41.94.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $34.12.

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).