Piper Sandler Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Stock Price

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) had its price objective lowered by analysts at Piper Sandler from $40.00 to $32.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 13.98% from the company’s current price.

APLS has been the topic of several other research reports. Wedbush upped their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. William Blair started coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $64.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Apellis Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.06.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of APLS stock opened at $28.08 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 4.18 and a current ratio of 5.08. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $24.34 and a 52 week high of $73.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a PE ratio of -10.25 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $31.58 and its 200-day moving average is $37.26.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by ($0.14). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 52.99% and a negative return on equity of 138.32%. The firm had revenue of $196.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $200.00 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($1.17) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 78.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total transaction of $1,340,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,623,000. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 6.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of APLS. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 191.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,144,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,845,000 after purchasing an additional 1,409,707 shares in the last quarter. Iron Triangle Partners LP bought a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,329,000. Fiera Capital Corp grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 47.7% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,401,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,750,000 after purchasing an additional 452,753 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 337.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 246,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,177,000 after purchasing an additional 190,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redmile Group LLC bought a new position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at approximately $9,111,000. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by 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).