Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Shares Bought by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 21,649 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,864 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals were worth $691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,884,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,036,000 after buying an additional 735,160 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 52.9% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 159,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,606,000 after purchasing an additional 55,282 shares in the last quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth $2,953,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3,862.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 104,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,328,000 after purchasing an additional 101,655 shares during the period. Finally, HighVista Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 375.5% in the 3rd quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 35,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,038,000 after acquiring an additional 28,409 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of APLS opened at $24.27 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $27.04 and a 200-day moving average of $29.46. The company has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.96 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a current ratio of 4.36. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.25 and a 1 year high of $59.91.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $212.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.92 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.73) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 6,247 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.70, for a total transaction of $179,288.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 307,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,822,810.50. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Caroline Baumal sold 2,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.81, for a total transaction of $95,208.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 55,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,878,483.60. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 66,054 shares of company stock worth $1,952,719. 6.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on APLS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Wedbush reduced their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.53.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals 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).