Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLS) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 23,180,000 shares, a growth of 11.5% from the October 31st total of 20,790,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on APLS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $64.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $71.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. William Blair initiated coverage on Apellis Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Apellis Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.94.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:APLS opened at $33.75 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 4.36 and a quick ratio of 3.73. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $28.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.25. Apellis Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $24.34 and a 1-year high of $73.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.71 and a beta of 0.87.

Apellis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:APLS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32) by ($0.14). Apellis Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 34.97% and a negative return on equity of 103.11%. The company had revenue of $196.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $200.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.17) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 78.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Apellis Pharmaceuticals will post -1.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Apellis Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director A. Sinclair Dunlop sold 37,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total value of $1,340,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,623,000. The trade was a 27.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of APLS. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 42.2% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 134,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,161,000 after purchasing an additional 39,931 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC grew its position in Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 90.7% during the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 42,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,648,000 after buying an additional 20,435 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC raised its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 137.8% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 123,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,742,000 after acquiring an additional 71,650 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its position in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals by 240.4% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 54,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,093,000 after acquiring an additional 38,541 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaCentric Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apellis Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,370,000. 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).