Weiss Ratings Reiterates Sell (E+) Rating for Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS)

Key Points

• Weiss Ratings has reiterated a "sell (e+)" rating for Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS), indicating ongoing concerns about the company's stock performance.
• Analyst ratings for Apellis vary, with JPMorgan increasing their target price to $37.00 and giving an "overweight" rating, while the consensus target price stands at $33.29.
• The company's stock has seen a decrease in trading, sitting at $24.92, with significant insider trading recently, including CEO Cedric Francois selling 175,037 shares.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "sell (e+)" rating restated by analysts at Weiss Ratings in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

APLS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.29.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $24.92. The company had a trading volume of 2,811,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,291,456. The company has a quick ratio of 3.16, a current ratio of 3.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $16.10 and a 52 week high of $35.72. The company has a 50 day moving average of $25.15 and a 200-day moving average of $21.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.69 and a beta of 0.69.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.44) by $0.11. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 30.24% and a negative return on equity of 116.09%. The firm had revenue of $171.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.91 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.30) EPS. The business's revenue was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 175,037 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.19, for a total value of $4,934,293.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 357,909 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,089,454.71. This trade represents a 32.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 31,092 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $713,561.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 68,908 shares in the company, valued at $1,581,438.60. This trade represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 430,919 shares of company stock valued at $10,656,945. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3,938.7% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,252 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,221 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 80.0% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,924 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 141.2% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,682 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.9% during the first quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 3,185 shares of the company's stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 15.6% during the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,855 shares of the company's stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company's stock.

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).

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