Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Upgraded by Evercore ISI to Strong-Buy Rating

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Thursday morning, Zacks.com reports.

APLS has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $64.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. HC Wainwright lowered their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.41.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

APLS stock traded up $0.72 during trading on Thursday, hitting $27.98. 3,251,327 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,693,979. The company has a quick ratio of 4.18, a current ratio of 5.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $26.28 and a 52 week high of $73.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $32.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.21 and a beta of 0.87.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.03. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 52.99% and a negative return on equity of 138.32%. The firm had revenue of $199.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.89 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.02) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 110.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total transaction of $1,340,510.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,623,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 6.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at about $89,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. nVerses Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 300.0% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1,300.8% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 3,330 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 299.9% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113 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).