Short Interest in Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Grows By 20.1%

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 20,820,000 shares, an increase of 20.1% from the February 13th total of 17,340,000 shares. Currently, 18.0% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,990,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 10.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on APLS. Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.53.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $25.11 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.37 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 3.73, a current ratio of 4.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $28.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.41. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $23.77 and a 52 week high of $59.91.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.08. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 34.97% and a negative return on equity of 103.11%. The firm had revenue of $212.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.92 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.73) EPS. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 45.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 2,824 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total transaction of $83,364.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 415,695 shares in the company, valued at $12,271,316.40. This represents a 0.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,569 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.10, for a total transaction of $139,781.90. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 138,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,482,123. The trade was a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 65,934 shares of company stock worth $1,950,261. Insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2,707.1% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 786 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 357.2% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 918 shares during the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $83,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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).