Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Receives Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $85.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's price objective indicates a potential upside of 54.21% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of 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 report on Monday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. 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. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $78.60.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ APLS traded up $1.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $55.12. The stock had a trading volume of 852,405 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,496,153. The business's 50 day moving average is $62.03 and its 200-day moving average is $56.64. The company has a market cap of $6.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.30 and a beta of 0.88. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $19.83 and a 52 week high of $94.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 3.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.73) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.73). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 133.34% and a negative return on equity of 178.60%. The firm had revenue of $146.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $143.34 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($1.50) earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 545.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,115,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,452,799.11. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 781 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.77, for a total transaction of $52,928.37. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 103,390 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,006,740.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals 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 sale, the insider now owns 1,115,983 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,452,799.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 422,279 shares of company stock worth $26,174,364 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of APLS. Cim Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,744 shares of the company's stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 16,004 shares of the company's stock worth $958,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 3,249 shares of the company's stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 43,800 shares of the company's stock worth $1,666,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 69.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 649 shares of the company's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).