Legato Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 35,749 Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)

Legato Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 35,749 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,523,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,052,551 shares of the company's stock worth $368,205,000 after acquiring an additional 350,606 shares during the period. Deep Track Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 6,419,566 shares of the company's stock worth $196,118,000 after acquiring an additional 419,006 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 96.7% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,315,600 shares of the company's stock worth $70,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138,300 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 38.5% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,890,714 shares of the company's stock worth $57,761,000 after acquiring an additional 525,368 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at $36,438,000. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Guardant Health to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $54.45.

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In other news, Director Musa Tariq sold 3,213 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.47, for a total value of $158,947.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,190 shares in the company, valued at $355,689.30. This trade represents a 30.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Myrtle S. Potter sold 2,626 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $130,512.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,180 shares of the company's stock, valued at $903,546. The trade was a 12.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 342,300 shares of company stock valued at $17,082,238. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Guardant Health Price Performance

Shares of GH stock traded down $1.07 on Friday, hitting $44.42. The stock had a trading volume of 1,439,025 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,812,888. The business has a 50 day moving average of $46.75 and a 200 day moving average of $44.75. The stock has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.10 and a beta of 1.44. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.14 and a 12-month high of $53.42.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.49) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $203.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.91 million. The business's revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.46) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health, Inc, a precision oncology company, provides blood and tissue tests, data sets, and analytics in the United States and internationally. The company provides Guardant360; Guardant360 LDT; Guardant360 CDx Test; Guardant360 Response Test; Guardant360 TissueNext Test; GuardantINFINITY Test; GuardantConnect, an integrated software-based solution designed for clinical and biopharmaceutical customers to connect patients tested with assays with actionable alterations with potentially relevant clinical studies; GuardantOMNI Test for advanced stage cancer; and GuardantINFORM, an in-silico research platform for tumor evolution and treatment resistance across various biomarker-driven cancers.