Apellis Pharmaceuticals Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:APLS)

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 18,182 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 703% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,265 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on APLS shares. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.40.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 7.9 %

APLS traded down $3.78 on Tuesday, hitting $44.06. The company had a trading volume of 5,022,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,516,668. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $19.83 and a 12-month high of $94.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 3.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.56. The company has a market cap of $5.31 billion, a PE ratio of -9.81 and a beta of 0.88.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.73) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.73). The company had revenue of $146.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $143.34 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 178.60% and a negative net margin of 133.34%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 545.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.50) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.34 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 1,431 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.77, for a total value of $96,978.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,338 shares in the company, valued at $6,325,516.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 1,431 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.77, for a total value of $96,978.87. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,338 shares in the company, valued at $6,325,516.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.17, for a total transaction of $3,743,526.19. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,115,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,452,799.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 376,427 shares of company stock worth $23,169,639 over the last 90 days. 7.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APLS. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 69.0% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 649 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 564.2% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 29.3% during the 3rd quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 687 shares in the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is 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).