Empowered Funds LLC Trims Stock Position in Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC cut its Guardant Health position by 81.3% in the first quarter, selling 58,422 shares and retaining 13,457 shares valued at approximately $1.24 million.
• Guardant Health shares opened at $168.48, near their 52-week high of $176.58. Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $183.78.
• Institutional investors own 92.6% of the stock, while insiders have sold 724,445 shares worth about $93.1 million over the past 90 days.

Empowered Funds LLC trimmed its holdings in Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Free Report) by 81.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,457 shares of the company's stock after selling 58,422 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Guardant Health were worth $1,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Guardant Health Price Performance

Shares of GH stock opened at $168.48 on Friday. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 1-year low of $51.44 and a 1-year high of $176.58. The company has a market cap of $22.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -48.27 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $115.20.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $150.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an "outperform" rating and a $150.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $170.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Guardant Health has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $183.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ian T. Clark sold 14,180 shares of Guardant Health 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 sale, the director owned 2,975 shares in the company, valued at $472,787. This trade represents a 82.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 143,028 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.54, for a total transaction of $21,674,463.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,881,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $285,097,657.44. This represents a 7.07% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 724,445 shares of company stock worth $93,089,291 in the last 90 days. 5.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Guardant Health 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.

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