Erste Asset Management GmbH Purchases 66,617 Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

Erste Asset Management GmbH raised its position in Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) by 10.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 705,217 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 66,617 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Guardant Health were worth $43,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new position in Guardant Health during the third quarter worth $38,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Guardant Health by 358.4% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 706 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 153.5% in the 3rd quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 162.2% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,096 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares during the period. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the 3rd quarter valued at about $78,000. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GH shares. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Guardant Health from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $129.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Monday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.57.

Guardant Health Trading Up 2.8%

NASDAQ GH opened at $97.97 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.24. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.88 and a 12 month high of $120.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.60 and a beta of 1.63.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $269.74 million. The firm’s revenue was up 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.62) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Darya Chudova sold 5,451 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.04, for a total transaction of $567,122.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 7,012 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,528.48. This represents a 43.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.05, for a total value of $10,505,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 168,223 shares in the company, valued at $17,671,826.15. This represents a 37.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 434,511 shares of company stock worth $45,580,887 in the last three months. Insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

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.