Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Short Interest Up 5.9% in June

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,900,000 shares, an increase of 5.9% from the May 31st total of 13,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,380,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 10.1 days.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of APLS stock opened at $34.98 on Wednesday. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $19.83 and a twelve month high of $91.35. The company has a current ratio of 3.77, a quick ratio of 3.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The business’s 50 day moving average is $42.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.48. The company has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.11 and a beta of 0.88.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.54) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.54). The firm had revenue of $172.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $163.37 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 79.67% and a negative return on equity of 160.77%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 284.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.56) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.1 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APLS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $89.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $57.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $57.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.56.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.17, for a total transaction of $3,743,526.19. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,115,983 shares in the company, valued at $60,452,799.11. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.17, for a total transaction of $3,743,526.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,115,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,452,799.11. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.24, for a total value of $1,451,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 136,998 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,375,801.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 185,014 shares of company stock worth $8,537,118. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 904,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,138,000 after acquiring an additional 25,052 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $56,640,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $12,461,000. Bellevue Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 821,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,193,000 after purchasing an additional 27,959 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc purchased a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $10,119,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

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).