Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Shares Up 2.9%

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 2.9% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $53.06 and last traded at $53.00. 141,627 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 1,482,369 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.50.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on APLS. Raymond James raised their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $80.00 in a report on Monday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $81.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $78.60.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock 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 company has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a PE ratio of -11.57 and a beta of 0.88. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $61.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.00.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $146.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $143.34 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 178.60% and a negative net margin of 133.34%. The firm's revenue was up 545.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.50) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.17, for a total transaction of $3,743,526.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,115,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,452,799.11. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.17, for a total transaction of $3,743,526.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,115,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,452,799.11. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.66, for a total transaction of $234,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,338 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,475,207.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 406,651 shares of company stock valued at $25,130,257 over the last quarter. 7.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 85,701 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1.0% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,923,920 shares of the company's stock worth $300,993,000 after buying an additional 58,208 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,842,660 shares of the company's stock valued at $302,124,000 after buying an additional 326,537 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 66.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,590,040 shares of the company's stock valued at $302,760,000 after buying an additional 1,840,498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 79.8% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,542,209 shares of the company's stock valued at $134,746,000 after buying an additional 1,571,606 shares in the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).