Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) in a research report issued on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage set an "equal weight" rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley's target price suggests a potential upside of 12.77% from the company's previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $61.00 to $47.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $43.00 to $30.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $49.94.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 5.2 %

Shares of APLS opened at $27.49 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.73, a current ratio of 4.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $24.34 and a 52-week high of $73.80. The company has a market cap of $3.42 billion, a PE ratio of -13.54 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a fifty day moving average of $29.45 and a 200 day moving average of $35.90.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $196.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($1.17) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 100,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,623,000. This represents a 27.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Braidwell LP boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 410.8% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 3,125,183 shares of the company's stock worth $90,130,000 after purchasing an additional 2,513,383 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 191.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,144,415 shares of the company's stock worth $61,845,000 after buying an additional 1,409,707 shares in the last quarter. Iron Triangle Partners LP acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth about $32,329,000. Fiera Capital Corp grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 47.7% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,401,190 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,750,000 after acquiring an additional 452,753 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sphera Funds Management LTD. purchased a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,226,000. 96.29% of the stock is currently 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).

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