Fred Alger Management LLC Raises Stake in Glaukos Corporation $GKOS

Fred Alger Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Glaukos Corporation (NYSE:GKOS) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 325,540 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,736 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Glaukos were worth $36,757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Glaukos by 10.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,580,670 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $292,004,000 after purchasing an additional 336,266 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Glaukos by 49.8% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,376,928 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $381,289,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123,140 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Glaukos by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,122,402 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $239,640,000 after acquiring an additional 18,040 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Glaukos by 3.5% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,999,252 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $206,503,000 after acquiring an additional 68,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Glaukos by 38.5% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,733,474 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $141,365,000 after acquiring an additional 481,620 shares in the last quarter. 99.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on GKOS. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Glaukos in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Glaukos from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $162.00 price objective on shares of Glaukos in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $170.00 price objective on Glaukos in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Glaukos from $140.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.00.

Glaukos Stock Performance

Shares of Glaukos stock opened at $127.60 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.49 billion, a PE ratio of -38.90 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 4.73 and a current ratio of 5.43. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $124.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $116.64. Glaukos Corporation has a one year low of $73.16 and a one year high of $148.11.

Glaukos (NYSE:GKOS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The medical instruments supplier reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by $0.12. The business had revenue of $150.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $137.00 million. Glaukos had a negative net margin of 34.34% and a negative return on equity of 6.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 41.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.22) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Glaukos Corporation will post -0.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Glaukos news, Director Leana Wen sold 1,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.35, for a total value of $243,695.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,829,585.65. The trade was a 7.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Alex R. Thurman sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $1,400,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 43,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,115,340. This represents a 18.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 45,305 shares of company stock valued at $6,259,395. Company insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Glaukos Profile

Glaukos Corporation is a medical technology company specializing in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of innovative therapies for patients with glaucoma and other chronic eye diseases. The company’s core offerings focus on micro-invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS), designed to reduce intraocular pressure and manage glaucoma more safely and effectively than traditional surgical approaches. Glaukos’s flagship products include the iStent, iStent inject and iStent infinite trabecular micro-bypass stents, which are implanted during cataract surgery to improve aqueous outflow and help control eye pressure.

Beyond its MIGS portfolio, Glaukos has expanded into sustained drug-delivery solutions.