Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Receives “Buy” Rating from HC Wainwright

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $57.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 99.93% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on APLS. Evercore ISI raised Apellis Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $26.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 21st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Eight equities research 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.71.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:APLS opened at $28.51 on Thursday. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $24.34 and a one year high of $71.90. 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 company has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.04 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Nur Nicholson sold 2,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.96, for a total transaction of $64,264.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 52,011 shares in the company, valued at $1,558,249.56. The trade was a 3.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Caroline Baumal sold 2,816 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 55,560 shares in the company, 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 sold 60,365 shares of company stock worth $1,810,479. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in APLS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,046,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,569,000 after buying an additional 230,450 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 735,160 shares during the period. Braidwell LP grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 410.8% in the third quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 3,125,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,130,000 after acquiring an additional 2,513,383 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 51.6% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,760,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,084,000 after acquiring an additional 939,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 191.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,144,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,845,000 after purchasing an additional 1,409,707 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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).