Affinity Asset Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 50,000 Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)

Affinity Asset Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 50,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,596,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 9,785 shares of the company's stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,649 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1,819.2% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,992 shares of the company's stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 3,784 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $1,564,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 105.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 80,991 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,584,000 after purchasing an additional 41,635 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 48.7% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,667 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 15,286 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 5,569 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals 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 sale, the general counsel now directly owns 138,730 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,482,123. The trade was a 3.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 13,551 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.43, for a total value of $412,356.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 418,519 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,735,533.17. This trade represents a 3.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,011 shares of company stock valued at $1,059,969 over the last quarter. Insiders own 6.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APLS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush reduced their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Scotiabank increased their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $45.59.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $18.20. The company had a trading volume of 2,455,500 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,147,695. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $23.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.00. The company has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.97 and a beta of 0.85. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.49 and a 1 year high of $50.98.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $212.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.92 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 34.97% and a negative return on equity of 103.11%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 45.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.73) EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

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).