Apellis Pharmaceuticals’ (APLS) Neutral Rating Reiterated at Citigroup

Citigroup reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a $41.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $44.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Bank of America upgraded Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.11.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:APLS opened at $40.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 310.87 and a beta of -0.19. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $16.10 and a 1 year high of $40.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 2.70 and a current ratio of 3.14.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by $0.86. The firm had revenue of $199.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $199.28 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 2.23% and a return on equity of 8.20%. Apellis Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.29) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 5,928 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total value of $129,052.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,151,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,065,586.14. This represents a 0.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Cedric Francois sold 27,192 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total value of $591,969.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 286,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,227,199.65. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 115,537 shares of company stock worth $2,486,082 over the last three months. Insiders own 6.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in APLS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,674,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,153,000 after buying an additional 687,471 shares in the last quarter. Deep Track Capital LP raised its holdings in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.3% in the third quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 8,000,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,049,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,382 shares in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP acquired a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $192,589,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 46.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,976,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,898,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,613,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,890,000 after acquiring an additional 575,802 shares during the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Here are the key news stories impacting Apellis Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mizuho raised its price target sharply from $20 to $41 (maintaining a neutral rating), implying modest upside from current levels and signaling greater confidence in valuation after the run-up. Mizuho raises PT
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup reaffirmed a neutral stance on Apellis (reporting coverage note). This keeps some institutional support for a non?committal view despite other downgrades. Citigroup reaffirm
• Neutral Sentiment: JPMorgan is reporting a “neutral” rating in recent coverage notes — another signal that large banks are shifting to more cautious, hold/neutral stances instead of bullish calls. JPMorgan neutral
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple major sell?side firms downgraded Apellis (many moving from strong?buy/overweight to hold/neutral): Roth MKM, Cantor Fitzgerald, Jefferies, William Blair, Robert W. Baird, HC Wainwright, Raymond James, Needham and others. These coordinated rating cuts are the primary near?term driver putting downward pressure on the stock as investors lock in gains after the rally. Representative coverage: Zacks analyst downgrades roundup Cantor Fitzgerald downgrade Raymond James lowered

About Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc, traded as NASDAQ:APLS, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies targeting the complement cascade for the treatment of rare and debilitating diseases. The company’s research and development efforts center on modulating complement proteins to address a range of ophthalmologic, hematologic and renal conditions. Apellis leverages its proprietary compstatin technology platform to design targeted inhibitors intended to improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

The company’s lead marketed product, Syfovre (pegcetacoplan), is an intravitreal complement C3 inhibitor approved for geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration, with ongoing investigations in other retinal disorders.