Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 49,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,564,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $216,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 562,269 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,942,000 after acquiring an additional 150,363 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 996,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,806,000 after purchasing an additional 40,386 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 115,045 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,671,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327 shares in the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on APLS shares. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on 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 reduced their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Finally, Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 6,247 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.70, for a total value of $179,288.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 307,415 shares in the company, valued at $8,822,810.50. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO James George Chopas sold 1,096 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.43, for a total value of $33,351.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 48,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,464,839.34. This trade represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,054 shares of company stock valued at $1,952,719. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

APLS stock opened at $22.68 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $26.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.25. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.70 and a fifty-two week high of $58.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 4.36 and a quick ratio of 3.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of -11.17 and a beta of 0.92.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.08. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The company had revenue of $212.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.92 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.73) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

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).