Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $26.18, but opened at $28.50. Apellis Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $28.80, with a volume of 629,975 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APLS has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised Apellis Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $71.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $61.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.06.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.90. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.54 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 4.36, a quick ratio of 3.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.46) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32) by ($0.14). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 34.97% and a negative return on equity of 103.11%. The company had revenue of $196.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $200.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.17) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 78.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total value of $1,340,510.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,623,000. The trade was a 27.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in APLS. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 57.4% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 39,864 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,343,000 after buying an additional 14,531 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 1,300.8% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 3,330 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 11.6% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 107.7% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 16,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $981,000 after acquiring an additional 8,647 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank bought a new position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at approximately $588,000. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).