Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Earns Equal Weight Rating from Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) in a research note released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an equal weight rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on APLS. William Blair started coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $63.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. HC Wainwright reduced their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $83.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.94.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 10.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ APLS opened at $30.77 on Thursday. 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 has a one year low of $24.34 and a one year high of $73.80. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $28.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of -15.16 and a beta of 0.87.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $196.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $200.00 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 34.97% and a negative return on equity of 103.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 78.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($1.17) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,623,000. The trade was a 27.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. HighVista Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 7,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 5.4% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 6,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC raised its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% during the second quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 78,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,021,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 34.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 781 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).