Aberdeen Group plc Sells 40,577 Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc trimmed its stake in Guardant Health by 35.1%, selling 40,577 shares in Q4 and ending the period with 75,124 shares worth about $7.67 million.
• Guardant Health reported Q4 EPS of -$0.50, missing estimates by $0.07, while revenue of $281.27 million beat expectations and rose 39.4% year‑over‑year.
• The stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $125.95, and roughly 92.6% of shares are held by institutional investors.

Aberdeen Group plc trimmed its stake in Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Free Report) by 35.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,124 shares of the company's stock after selling 40,577 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.06% of Guardant Health worth $7,673,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Chesapeake Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Guardant Health during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Guardant Health during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. First Pacific Financial purchased a new stake in Guardant Health during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its stake in Guardant Health by 153.5% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Guardant Health by 19.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 844 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Guardant Health Price Performance

Shares of Guardant Health stock opened at $92.84 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.40. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.36 and a 12 month high of $120.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.05 and a beta of 1.64.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on GH. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Friday, January 30th. Mizuho set a $135.00 price objective on Guardant Health in a report on Friday, January 9th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Guardant Health from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $125.95.

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In other news, insider Terilyn J. Monroe sold 8,571 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.09, for a total value of $977,865.39. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 20,990 shares in the company, valued at $2,394,749.10. This represents a 28.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Medina Manuel Hidalgo sold 1,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.54, for a total value of $119,002.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,193 shares of the company's stock, valued at $109,207.22. This trade represents a 52.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 17,051 shares of company stock worth $1,743,792 over the last three months. 6.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Guardant Health

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.

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