Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Buys Shares of 29,577 Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)

Key Points

• Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased 29,577 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., valued at approximately $647,000, as revealed in a recent Form 13F filing.
• Several institutional investors have increased their holdings in Apellis, with notable growth observed from GF Fund Management and GAMMA Investing LLC.
• Analysts have lowered their price targets for Apellis Pharmaceuticals, with the consensus rating being "Moderate Buy" and a lowered target average price of $40.00.

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 29,577 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $647,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 21,649 shares of the company's stock worth $691,000 after buying an additional 1,864 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 16.7% in the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 54,444 shares of the company's stock worth $1,191,000 after acquiring an additional 7,777 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 882,801 shares of the company's stock worth $28,170,000 after acquiring an additional 22,507 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 147.8% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,325 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,625,000 after purchasing an additional 44,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 11.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 21,822 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on APLS. Scotiabank decreased 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $49.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.55, for a total transaction of $97,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 128,730 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,516,671.50. This represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 137,465 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.19, for a total transaction of $2,775,418.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 169,090 shares of company stock worth $3,403,832. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APLS traded down $0.84 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $18.75. 2,658,794 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,203,491. The stock has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.47 and a beta of 0.67. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.10 and a 1 year high of $41.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.02. The company has a current ratio of 4.08, a quick ratio of 3.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.74) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.36) by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $149.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $197.61 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 28.83% and a negative return on equity of 99.19%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.54) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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).