Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $26.18, but opened at $28.50. Apellis Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $28.80, with a volume of 629,975 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

APLS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. William Blair began coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $61.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI raised Apellis Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.06.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $29.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.18. The stock has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.40 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 4.36, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32) by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $196.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $200.00 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 78.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.17) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total value of $1,340,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,623,000. This trade represents a 27.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. HighVista Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the second quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 7,566 shares of the company’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 5.4% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 6,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% in the second quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 78,746 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,021,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 781 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).