Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Buys 2,250 Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 115,045 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC owned about 0.09% of Apellis Pharmaceuticals worth $3,671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 70.0% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 1,327 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $230,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 30,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $976,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1,425.5% in the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 126,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,043,000 after acquiring an additional 118,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Pictet & Cie SA increased its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 97,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,105,000 after acquiring an additional 23,416 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on APLS. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 21st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Wedbush lowered their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.53.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APLS opened at $25.32 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $29.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.26. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.77 and a 52 week high of $63.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a current ratio of 4.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of -12.47 and a beta of 0.93.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $212.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.92 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The business’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 company earned ($0.73) earnings per share. Analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 13,551 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.43, for a total value of $412,356.93. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 418,519 shares in the company, valued at $12,735,533.17. This represents a 3.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Caroline Baumal sold 2,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.81, for a total value of $95,208.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 55,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,878,483.60. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 65,934 shares of company stock worth $1,950,261 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.80% 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).