Insider Selling: Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) General Counsel Sells 2,201 Shares of Stock

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) General Counsel David O. Watson sold 2,201 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.96, for a total transaction of $65,941.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 105,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,162,427.80. This trade represents a 2.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of APLS traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $30.13. 1,461,289 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,274,031. 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 company has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a PE ratio of -14.84 and a beta of 0.94. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.34 and a 52-week high of $71.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $31.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.31.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32) by ($0.14). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 34.97% and a negative return on equity of 103.11%. The business had revenue of $196.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $200.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($1.17) EPS. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 78.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 42.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 134,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,161,000 after purchasing an additional 39,931 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 23.3% during the 3rd 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 period. Profund Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 90.7% during the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 42,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,648,000 after buying an additional 20,435 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 137.8% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 123,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,742,000 after buying an additional 71,650 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC bought a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at $1,370,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APLS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Eight 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 MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.71.

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).