Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Short Interest Down 5.5% in September

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,280,000 shares, a decrease of 5.5% from the August 31st total of 16,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,590,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 9.6 days.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of APLS stock opened at $27.74 on Wednesday. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $26.96 and a 1 year high of $73.80. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 5.08 and a quick ratio of 4.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.02 and a beta of 0.88.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $199.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.89 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 138.32% and a negative net margin of 52.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 110.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.02) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush boosted their price target on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. HC Wainwright reduced their price target on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $92.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho cut their target price on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $64.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals 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 owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,623,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 6.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in APLS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,555,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $572,003,000 after purchasing an additional 85,701 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,460,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,277,000 after acquiring an additional 677,098 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 47.7% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,401,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,750,000 after purchasing an additional 452,753 shares during the period. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. lifted its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 44.2% in the fourth quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 885,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,986,000 after purchasing an additional 271,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bellevue Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 821,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,193,000 after purchasing an additional 27,959 shares during the period. 96.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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).