Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Evercore ISI

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Evercore ISI to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $64.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.41.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.6 %

NASDAQ:APLS traded up $0.72 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $27.98. The company had a trading volume of 3,251,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,693,979. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $26.28 and a twelve month high of $73.80. The company has a quick ratio of 4.18, a current ratio of 5.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.21 and a beta of 0.87. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $32.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.70.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.30) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.03. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 138.32% and a negative net margin of 52.99%. The business had revenue of $199.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.02) EPS. The firm's revenue was up 110.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total value of $1,340,510.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,623,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 46,065 shares of the company's stock worth $1,329,000 after acquiring an additional 2,852 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at $56,000. Old West Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth about $2,953,000. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,370,000. Finally, Sippican Capital Advisors increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 30.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 30,313 shares of the company's stock worth $874,000 after buying an additional 7,135 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).