Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Cantor Fitzgerald

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) was downgraded by investment analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Bank of America raised shares of 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. Barclays lifted their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $24.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apellis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.00.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ APLS opened at $40.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a PE ratio of 310.72 and a beta of 0.26. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 3.14 and a quick ratio of 2.70. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $16.10 and a 1-year high of $40.45.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by $0.86. The business had revenue of $199.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.28 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 8.20% and a net margin of 2.23%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.29) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, insider Mark Jeffrey Delong sold 3,371 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.77, for a total transaction of $73,386.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 78,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,705,744.81. The trade was a 4.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO James George Chopas sold 2,064 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 transaction of $44,933.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 49,805 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,254.85. The trade was a 3.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 115,537 shares of company stock worth $2,486,082. 6.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 687,471 shares during the last quarter. Deep Track Capital LP increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 8,000,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $181,049,000 after buying an additional 1,000,382 shares during the period. RTW Investments LP bought a new stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $192,589,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 46.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,976,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,452,000 after buying an additional 1,898,995 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,613,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,890,000 after buying an additional 575,802 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Apellis Pharmaceuticals

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

• Positive Sentiment: Biogen agreed to acquire Apellis for about $5.6 billion, offering $41.00/share in cash plus a non-transferable CVR tied to SYFOVRE sales — this is the main driver of the large share rally. Biogen to buy Apellis for $5.6B (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage updates pushed some price targets up to the deal level (Barclays raised its PT to $41 from $24), which supports the takeover valuation. Barclays raises PT to $41 (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Several firms reiterated neutral/market‑perform ratings with price targets clustered near $41, reflecting the deal price rather than new upside from standalone operations. Analyst reaffirms (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: APLS saw extremely high intraday volume and a multi‑day surge after the deal announcement; such spikes often normalize as the market digests deal terms and regulatory/closing risk. APLS moves 135% higher (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple shareholder law firms have opened investigations and flagged potential challenges to the adequacy of the $41 per‑share price and the sale process — this creates legal/closing risk and could pressure sentiment. M&A class action investigation (PR Newswire)
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades followed the deal news: Needham cut APLS from Buy to Hold and JP Morgan issued a downgrade in subsequent coverage — these moves can weigh on near‑term trading, especially if analysts see limited upside beyond the deal price. Needham downgrades to Hold (American Banking News) JP Morgan downgrades (MSN)

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.