Vanguard Group Inc. Has $221.55 Million Holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $APLS

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its ownership of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.8%, bringing its total stake to approximately 10.13 million shares, valued at $221.55 million.
• Insider transactions include General Counsel David O. Watson selling 5,000 shares and CEO Cedric Francois selling 137,465 shares, indicating a decrease in their ownership stakes.
• The average analyst rating for Apellis Pharmaceuticals is a "Moderate Buy" with a consensus target price of $34.12, despite a decrease in stock value and a negative earnings report for the last quarter.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Free Report) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,130,356 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 84,331 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 8.06% of Apellis Pharmaceuticals worth $221,551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.9% in the first quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 3,185 shares of the company's stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 573 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 189,477 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,046,000 after buying an additional 913 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3,938.7% in 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. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,615 shares of the company's stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.4% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 16,097 shares of the company's stock valued at $352,000 after buying an additional 2,025 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company's stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.6%

NASDAQ:APLS traded down $0.45 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $27.52. 1,265,780 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,090,504. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.12 and a beta of 0.78. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.10 and a twelve month high of $41.94. 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 stock's fifty day moving average price is $21.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.30.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 137,465 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $2,775,418.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 343,433 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,933,912.27. The trade was a 28.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total value of $139,000.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 123,730 shares in the company, valued at $3,439,694. The trade was a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 174,090 shares of company stock worth $3,542,832 over the last three months. 6.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on APLS. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $34.12.

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).