Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Purchases 49,642 Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $APLS

Key Points

• Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its Apellis stake 107.7% in Q4 by buying 49,642 shares, bringing its holding to 95,755 shares worth about $2.405 million (≈0.08% of the company).
• Apellis reported Q4 EPS of $0.47 versus a consensus of -$0.39 and revenue of $199.91 million (down 5.9% YoY); the company has a market cap of $5.24 billion and a P/E of 315.10.
• Institutional ownership is high at 96.29%, with several large funds (Deep Track, AQR, Polar, Bank of Nova Scotia, Millennium) increasing positions, while analysts' consensus rating is Hold with a $34.89 price target.

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Free Report) by 107.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,755 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 49,642 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned approximately 0.08% of Apellis Pharmaceuticals worth $2,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deep Track Capital LP boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.3% during the third quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 8,000,382 shares of the company's stock valued at $181,049,000 after buying an additional 1,000,382 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 46.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,976,414 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,452,000 after buying an additional 1,898,995 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 96.0% during the third quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,650,230 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,975,000 after buying an additional 1,298,055 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 144.8% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,456,225 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,954,000 after buying an additional 861,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 563.7% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,343,726 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,409,000 after buying an additional 1,141,274 shares during the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:APLS opened at $40.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 315.10 and a beta of -0.24. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.10 and a 1 year high of $41.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 3.14 and a quick ratio of 2.70.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by $0.86. The business had revenue of $199.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.28 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 8.20% and a net margin of 2.23%.The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.29) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.23 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on APLS. William Blair lowered Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Apellis Pharmaceuticals from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Roth Mkm lowered Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, HC Wainwright lowered Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.89.

About Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc, traded as NASDAQ:APLS, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies targeting the complement cascade for the treatment of rare and debilitating diseases. The company's research and development efforts center on modulating complement proteins to address a range of ophthalmologic, hematologic and renal conditions. Apellis leverages its proprietary compstatin technology platform to design targeted inhibitors intended to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

The company's lead marketed product, Syfovre (pegcetacoplan), is an intravitreal complement C3 inhibitor approved for geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration, with ongoing investigations in other retinal disorders.

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