Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at William Blair

William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating on the stock.

APLS has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. HC Wainwright dropped their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $64.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.00.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:APLS opened at $27.95 on Wednesday. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $26.28 and a 12 month high of $73.80. The company has a current ratio of 5.08, a quick ratio of 4.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $34.53 and its 200 day moving average is $39.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a PE ratio of -8.08 and a beta of 0.87.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $199.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.89 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 138.32% and a negative net margin of 52.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 110.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.02) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total transaction of $1,340,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,623,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at approximately $89,000. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 300.0% during the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1,300.8% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 3,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 299.9% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,151 shares of the company’s stock worth $159,000 after buying an additional 3,113 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).