Candriam S.C.A. Sells 59,190 Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

Candriam S.C.A. lessened its stake in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) by 39.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 89,216 shares of the company’s stock after selling 59,190 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Guardant Health were worth $8,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Guardant Health by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,160,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,242,101,000 after buying an additional 251,939 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Guardant Health by 33.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,636,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $575,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,414,441 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Guardant Health by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,361,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $343,348,000 after acquiring an additional 435,232 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Guardant Health by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,213,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $328,297,000 after acquiring an additional 277,001 shares during the period. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Guardant Health by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,441,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,398,000 after acquiring an additional 72,162 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Guardant Health news, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 210,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.89, for a total value of $23,076,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,886,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,307,924.56. This represents a 10.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.30, for a total value of $12,630,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,012,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $254,231,669.70. This represents a 4.73% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 708,681 shares of company stock valued at $90,566,438. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

Shares of GH opened at $160.05 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $127.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.35. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.35 and a 52 week high of $174.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -47.21 and a beta of 1.59.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on GH. Piper Sandler set a $127.00 price objective on Guardant Health in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Guggenheim increased their target price on Guardant Health from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Guardant Health in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $185.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Guardant Health from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.70.

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.