Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Trims Position in Glaukos Co. (NYSE:GKOS)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lowered its position in Glaukos Co. (NYSE:GKOS) by 40.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 471,849 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after selling 323,397 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Glaukos were worth $70,749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. IFP Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Glaukos in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in Glaukos in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $90,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in Glaukos in the fourth quarter worth approximately $125,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in Glaukos by 2,263.2% during the third quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 898 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Glaukos in the fourth quarter valued at $153,000. 99.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $180.00 price target (up from $140.00) on shares of Glaukos in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Glaukos from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $132.00 to $162.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Glaukos from $153.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Glaukos from $149.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Glaukos from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Alex R. Thurman sold 1,520 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.84, for a total value of $162,396.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,708,568.04. This represents a 2.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tomas Navratil sold 3,416 shares of Glaukos 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 directly owns 72,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,658,380.18. This trade represents a 4.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Glaukos Trading Up 0.5 %

GKOS opened at $103.67 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.12 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $131.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.83. Glaukos Co. has a 12 month low of $88.16 and a 12 month high of $163.71.

Glaukos (NYSE:GKOS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The medical instruments supplier reported ($0.40) earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $100.72 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Glaukos Co. will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Glaukos

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.