The Goldman Sachs Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Stock Price

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) had its price objective lowered by The Goldman Sachs Group from $36.00 to $32.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $43.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 21st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird decreased 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. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.53.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

APLS stock opened at $26.00 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.81 and a beta of 0.93. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $23.77 and a twelve month high of $64.33. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.30. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 28th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $212.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.92 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 103.11% and a negative net margin of 34.97%. The company’s revenue was up 45.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.73) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Caroline Baumal sold 2,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.81, for a total value of $95,208.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 55,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,878,483.60. This trade represents a 4.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel David O. Watson sold 4,965 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.70, for a total value of $142,495.50. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 107,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,092,597.20. This represents a 4.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 60,365 shares of company stock worth $1,810,479. 6.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apellis Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. KBC Group NV increased its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $449,000 after buying an additional 749 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 2,707.1% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 786 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted 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 buying an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 189,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,046,000 after buying an additional 913 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.29% of the company’s stock.

About Apellis Pharmaceuticals

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).