Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys 17,382 Shares of Glaukos Co. (NYSE:GKOS)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in Glaukos Co. (NYSE:GKOS) by 606.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,247 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,382 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Glaukos were worth $3,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Glaukos by 186.9% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 13,726 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $1,788,000 after buying an additional 8,942 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Glaukos during the 4th quarter worth about $3,679,000. State Street Corp increased its position in Glaukos by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,954,449 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $254,626,000 after purchasing an additional 98,109 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Glaukos in the 3rd quarter valued at about $258,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of Glaukos by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 141,790 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $21,260,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. 99.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Glaukos

In other news, insider Tomas Navratil sold 3,416 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.14, for a total value of $502,630.24. Following the sale, the insider now owns 72,437 shares in the company, valued at $10,658,380.18. This represents a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GKOS shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Glaukos from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Stephens upgraded Glaukos to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Mizuho upgraded Glaukos from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $140.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Glaukos from $153.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Glaukos from $140.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Glaukos presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.25.

Glaukos Stock Performance

Shares of GKOS stock opened at $106.72 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 5.54 and a quick ratio of 4.71. The business has a fifty day moving average of $133.61 and a 200 day moving average of $136.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -37.18 and a beta of 0.99. Glaukos Co. has a 1 year low of $87.59 and a 1 year high of $163.71.

Glaukos (NYSE:GKOS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The medical instruments supplier reported ($0.40) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38) by ($0.02). Glaukos had a negative return on equity of 16.53% and a negative net margin of 39.04%. The firm had revenue of $105.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $100.72 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Glaukos Co. will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Glaukos Company Profile

Glaukos Corporation, an ophthalmic pharmaceutical and medical technology company, focuses on the development of novel therapies for the treatment of glaucoma, corneal disorders, and retinal diseases. It offers iStent and iStent inject W micro-bypass stents that enhance aqueous humor outflow inserted in cataract surgery to treat mild-to-moderate open-angle glaucoma.