HC Wainwright Reaffirms Buy Rating for Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS)

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by HC Wainwright in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $57.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright's price objective indicates a potential upside of 108.03% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $43.00 to $30.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. William Blair started coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 21st. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $31.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Eight 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.71.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:APLS traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $27.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,287,866 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,715,733. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $24.34 and a twelve month high of $71.90. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.50 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 4.36 and a quick ratio of 3.73. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $31.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.09.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 2,824 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.52, for a total transaction of $83,364.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 415,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,271,316.40. The trade was a 0.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Caroline Baumal sold 2,816 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.81, for a total transaction of $95,208.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 55,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,878,483.60. This represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 60,365 shares of company stock worth $1,810,479 in the last 90 days. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Man Group plc lifted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 194.4% in the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 49,292 shares of the company's stock worth $1,573,000 after buying an additional 32,550 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 44.1% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 491,107 shares of the company's stock worth $15,671,000 after acquiring an additional 150,384 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 19.6% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 9,615 shares of the company's stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 1,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integral Health Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $13,402,000. 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).