Hsbc Holdings PLC Makes New $15.91 Million Investment in Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 105,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,910,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GH. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 56.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 71,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,012,000 after buying an additional 25,831 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Guardant Health during the first quarter worth about $274,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Guardant Health by 15.8% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 77,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,023,000 after acquiring an additional 10,538 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in Guardant Health by 9.4% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 632,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,922,000 after acquiring an additional 54,284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Guardant Health by 56.4% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 111,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,800,000 after acquiring an additional 40,209 shares in the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Guardant Health Trading Down 1.4%

NASDAQ GH opened at $168.52 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $156.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.47. The company has a market cap of $22.62 billion, a PE ratio of -48.29 and a beta of 1.60. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.40 and a 1 year high of $176.58.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.76) by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $334.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $314.23 million. The firm’s revenue was up 44.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.44) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Guardant Health news, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 37,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.16, for a total transaction of $6,343,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 37,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,343,500. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ian T. Clark sold 14,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.92, for a total value of $2,253,485.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,975 shares in the company, valued at $472,787. This represents a 82.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 548,318 shares of company stock worth $82,501,873. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GH. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. UBS Group set a $150.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Barclays upped their price target on Guardant Health from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Guardant Health from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $183.78.

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.