California State Teachers Retirement System Has $1.12 Million Stock Position in Kodiak Sciences Inc. $KOD

California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Kodiak Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:KOD) by 1,358.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,396 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,381 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Kodiak Sciences were worth $1,121,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Kodiak Sciences by 31.8% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 120,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,598,000 after purchasing an additional 29,121 shares in the last quarter. PSP Research LLC bought a new stake in Kodiak Sciences in the 4th quarter valued at about $543,000. Artia Global Partners LP acquired a new position in Kodiak Sciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $476,000. Swiss National Bank acquired a new position in Kodiak Sciences during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,188,000. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kodiak Sciences in the fourth quarter worth approximately $618,000. 89.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kodiak Sciences Stock Up 3.4%

KOD opened at $41.35 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.87 and a beta of 2.21. Kodiak Sciences Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.29 and a twelve month high of $47.84. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $39.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.95.

Kodiak Sciences (NASDAQ:KOD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported ($1.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.96) by ($0.09). As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kodiak Sciences Inc. will post -3.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on KOD shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Kodiak Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Kodiak Sciences in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Chardan Capital upgraded shares of Kodiak Sciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $14.00 to $61.00 in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Kodiak Sciences from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.14.

Kodiak Sciences Profile

Kodiak Sciences, Inc is a clinical?stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, that focuses on the discovery and development of novel therapies for retinal diseases. The company’s proprietary technology centers on antibody biopolymer conjugates (ABCs), which are designed to extend durability, enhance tissue penetration and improve the safety profile of existing therapeutic modalities. Kodiak’s research and development efforts target conditions such as wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), diabetic macular edema (DME) and other serious ophthalmic disorders.

The lead product candidate in Kodiak’s pipeline is KSI-301, an anti-VEGF antibody biopolymer conjugate administered via intravitreal injection.