Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Trading Down 4.8% – Should You Sell?

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) shares traded down 4.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $27.57 and last traded at $27.60. 844,801 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 1,890,824 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.99.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on APLS. Citigroup dropped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $63.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. William Blair began coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $71.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.06.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.28 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.90. The company has a current ratio of 4.36, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by ($0.14). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The business had revenue of $196.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $200.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.17) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 78.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total transaction of $1,340,510.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,623,000. This represents a 27.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of APLS. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $942,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 42.2% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 134,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,161,000 after purchasing an additional 39,931 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 90.7% during the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 42,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,648,000 after purchasing an additional 20,435 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC raised its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 137.8% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 123,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,742,000 after purchasing an additional 71,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank purchased a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth about $588,000. 96.29% of the stock is owned by 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).