Old West Investment Management LLC Acquires 11,220 Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)

Old West Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 113,623 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,220 shares during the period. Apellis Pharmaceuticals makes up approximately 1.5% of Old West Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Old West Investment Management LLC owned about 0.09% of Apellis Pharmaceuticals worth $3,626,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 23.3% during the third 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 last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 21,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $691,000 after acquiring an additional 1,864 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3,862.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 104,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,328,000 after purchasing an additional 101,655 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $445,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 311.2% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 31,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $905,000 after purchasing an additional 23,749 shares during the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 4,965 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.70, for a total transaction of $142,495.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 107,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,092,597.20. The trade was a 4.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Caroline Baumal sold 2,816 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.81, for a total value of $95,208.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 55,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,878,483.60. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,054 shares of company stock worth $1,952,719 over the last three months. 6.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 11.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:APLS opened at $19.97 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.84 and a beta of 0.85. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $19.76 and a one year high of $57.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $26.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 4.36 and a quick ratio of 3.73.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.08. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The business had revenue of $212.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.73) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 45.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APLS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wedbush decreased their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Eight equities 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.59.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals 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).