Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Shares Gap Down to $48.81

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $48.81, but opened at $45.10. Apellis Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $45.01, with a volume of 395,298 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $57.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $77.40.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.10, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business's fifty day moving average is $55.25 and its 200 day moving average is $57.54. The company has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.80 and a beta of 0.97.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.73) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.73). The company had revenue of $146.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $143.34 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 133.34% and a negative return on equity of 178.60%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 545.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.50) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.27 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.17, for a total transaction of $3,743,526.19. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,115,983 shares in the company, valued at $60,452,799.11. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.17, for a total value of $3,743,526.19. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,115,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,452,799.11. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Mark Jeffrey Delong sold 9,913 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.90, for a total value of $564,049.70. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 54,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,112,031.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 376,427 shares of company stock worth $23,169,639 in the last quarter. 7.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,555,678 shares of the company's stock worth $572,003,000 after buying an additional 85,701 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 79.8% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,542,209 shares of the company's stock valued at $134,746,000 after purchasing an additional 1,571,606 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 38.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,460,339 shares of the company's stock worth $147,277,000 after purchasing an additional 677,098 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 109.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,145,004 shares of the company's stock worth $128,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc increased its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 126.6% during the 3rd quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 1,053,875 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,089,000 after purchasing an additional 588,875 shares during the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Company 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).