Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Coverage Initiated at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals with an "overweight" rating and a price target of $32.00, indicating a potential upside of 38.23% from its current price.
• Other brokerages have varied price targets for Apellis, with Royal Bank of Canada elevating theirs to $19.00 and Goldman Sachs lowering it to $18.00, reflecting differing views on the stock's performance.
• Apellis reported earnings with a negative EPS of ($0.33) for the last quarter, which was better than the consensus estimate, though revenue decreased by 10.6% year-over-year.

Investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set an "overweight" rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target points to a potential upside of 38.23% from the company's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on APLS. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Friday, September 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $33.47.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:APLS opened at $23.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.72 and a beta of 0.69. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $16.10 and a one year high of $35.72. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $25.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90, a current ratio of 3.77 and a quick ratio of 3.16.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $187.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.30) EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 49,963 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.39, for a total transaction of $1,418,449.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 307,946 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,742,586.94. This represents a 13.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.34, for a total transaction of $121,700.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 118,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,889,888.20. This represents a 4.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 286,554 shares of company stock valued at $7,745,606. 6.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 58,856 shares of the company's stock worth $1,019,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.9% in the 1st quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 3,185 shares of the company's stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,855 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 80.0% in the 2nd 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. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 55,529 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,214,000 after purchasing an additional 864 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).