Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS)

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Traders purchased 18,182 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 703% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,265 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APLS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apellis Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $80.00 in a report on Monday, February 5th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $65.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $67.00 to $57.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, April 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.40.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 4.2 %

Shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $46.05 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $56.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.45. The company has a current ratio of 3.10, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $19.83 and a twelve month high of $94.75. The stock has a market cap of $5.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.28 and a beta of 0.88.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($0.73) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.73). The business had revenue of $146.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $143.34 million. Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 178.60% and a negative net margin of 133.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 545.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($1.50) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.17, for a total value of $3,743,526.19. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,115,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,452,799.11. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Apellis Pharmaceuticals news, insider Pascal Deschatelets sold 69,107 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.17, for a total value of $3,743,526.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,115,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,452,799.11. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Timothy Eugene Sullivan sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.66, for a total value of $234,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,475,207.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 376,427 shares of company stock valued at $23,169,639. 7.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Apellis Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,555,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $572,003,000 after buying an additional 85,701 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 79.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,542,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,746,000 after acquiring an additional 1,571,606 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake 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 valued at $147,277,000 after acquiring an additional 677,098 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 109.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,145,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,121,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its stake in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 126.6% during the 3rd quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 1,053,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,089,000 after acquiring an additional 588,875 shares during the last quarter. 96.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).