Victory Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stake in Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) by 16.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 474,033 shares of the company’s stock after selling 92,372 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.38% of Guardant Health worth $29,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GH. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in Guardant Health by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,127,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,378,000 after acquiring an additional 317,906 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,558,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,184,000 after purchasing an additional 763,834 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Guardant Health by 0.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,920,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,014,000 after buying an additional 13,088 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 78.2% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,319,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,730,000 after buying an additional 1,018,144 shares during the period. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its position in Guardant Health by 49.6% during the second quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,030,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,623,000 after acquiring an additional 673,438 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on GH shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Mizuho set a $135.00 price objective on Guardant Health in a report on Friday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Guardant Health from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Guardant Health from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Terilyn J. Monroe sold 8,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.09, for a total transaction of $977,865.39. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 20,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,394,749.10. This trade represents a 28.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Darya Chudova sold 5,451 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.04, for a total value of $567,122.04. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 7,012 shares in the company, valued at $729,528.48. This trade represents a 43.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 114,734 shares of company stock worth $12,083,490 over the last ninety days. 6.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Guardant Health Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GH opened at $91.20 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $105.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $89.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.96 billion, a PE ratio of -27.55 and a beta of 1.67. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.88 and a 12 month high of $120.74.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.43) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $281.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.74 million. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.62) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Guardant Health Company Profile

Guardant Health, Inc is a precision oncology company specializing in blood-based cancer diagnostics. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Redwood City, California, the company develops non-invasive tests that use circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to profile genomic alterations in patients with solid tumors. Guardant Health’s mission is to advance cancer care by providing actionable data to clinicians, pharmaceutical partners and researchers worldwide.

The company’s flagship product, Guardant360, is a next-generation sequencing (NGS) assay designed to detect mutations, copy number variations and select fusions in more than 70 cancer-related genes.