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

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at HC Wainwright in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $57.00 price target on the stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective points to a potential upside of 99.93% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Mizuho cut their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.71.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APLS opened at $28.51 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.04 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a current ratio of 4.36. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $24.34 and a fifty-two week high of $71.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Cedric Francois sold 6,247 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.70, for a total value of $179,288.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 307,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,822,810.50. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Caroline Baumal sold 2,816 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.81, for a total transaction of $95,208.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 55,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 over the last quarter. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 34.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 679 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $449,000 after acquiring an additional 749 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2,707.1% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 786 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 758 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 357.2% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

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).