Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases 1,409,707 Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS - Free Report) by 191.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,144,415 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,409,707 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 1.77% of Apellis Pharmaceuticals worth $61,845,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Eastern Bank bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $332,000. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 471.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 23,722 shares of the company's stock worth $684,000 after acquiring an additional 19,571 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 15.5% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 27,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $796,000 after purchasing an additional 3,700 shares in the last quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at $609,000. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky purchased a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at $725,000. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total transaction of $1,340,510.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,623,000. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 6.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

APLS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.41.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 3.3 %

APLS stock traded down $0.90 during trading on Friday, hitting $26.68. The company had a trading volume of 1,122,335 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,685,059. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.97 and a beta of 0.87. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.28 and a 52-week high of $73.80. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.82. The company has a quick ratio of 4.18, a current ratio of 5.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.03. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 52.99% and a negative return on equity of 138.32%. The company had revenue of $199.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $190.89 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($1.02) EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 110.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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).