KBC Group NV Decreases Position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)

KBC Group NV lessened its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Free Report) by 96.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,850 shares of the company's stock after selling 100,437 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV's holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals were worth $84,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in APLS. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 21,649 shares of the company's stock valued at $691,000 after acquiring an additional 1,864 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 882,801 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,170,000 after acquiring an additional 22,507 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 147.8% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,325 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,625,000 after acquiring an additional 44,332 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 212,887 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,793,000 after acquiring an additional 21,822 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1,795.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,235 shares of the company's stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 9,695 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 company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.77, for a total transaction of $93,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 133,730 shares in the company, valued at $2,510,112.10. This represents a 3.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $0.09 on Friday, hitting $19.44. 1,558,003 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,365,452. The company has a current ratio of 4.08, a quick ratio of 3.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. The company has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a PE ratio of -10.86 and a beta of 0.67. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $18.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.08. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.10 and a 52 week high of $42.47.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.36) by ($0.38). The firm had revenue of $149.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.61 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 99.19% and a negative net margin of 28.83%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.54) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on APLS. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $28.00 to $20.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Bank of America cut shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $41.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $39.79.

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).