Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Trading Down 3.3%

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) fell 3.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $54.07 and last traded at $54.07. 120,819 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 1,495,266 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.91.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on APLS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.93.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 3.10 and a quick ratio of 2.50. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $62.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.56. The company has a market capitalization of $6.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.01 and a beta of 0.88.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.73) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.73). The firm had revenue of $146.38 million during 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 business earned ($1.50) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 250,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.11, for a total value of $16,027,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 313,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,108,870.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 250,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.11, for a total transaction of $16,027,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 313,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,108,870.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 18,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.18, for a total value of $1,068,179.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 173,998 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,949,205.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 353,172 shares of company stock valued at $22,430,838 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 7.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $222,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $12,558,000. FIL Ltd bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $340,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,460,339 shares of the company's stock valued at $147,277,000 after purchasing an additional 677,098 shares in the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by 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).