Guardant Health, Inc. $GH Holdings Lowered by Baillie Gifford & Co.

Key Points

• Baillie Gifford & Co. trimmed its stake in Guardant Health by 4.6% in Q4, selling 237,666 shares and now holds 4,890,026 shares (~3.88%) valued at about $499.5 million, while institutional investors own roughly 92.6% of the stock.
• Analysts have become more bullish, with multiple firms raising price targets and MarketBeat showing 20 Buy, 1 Hold and 1 Sell ratings, giving a consensus "Moderate Buy" and an average target of $125.95.
• In the most recent quarter Guardant reported a revenue beat ($281.3M, +39.4% y/y) but missed on EPS (($0.50) vs. ($0.43)), and insiders have sold about $1.74 million of stock in the past 90 days.

Baillie Gifford & Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,890,026 shares of the company's stock after selling 237,666 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned about 3.88% of Guardant Health worth $499,467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter worth about $114,421,000. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its stake in Guardant Health by 49.6% in the 2nd quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,030,428 shares of the company's stock worth $105,623,000 after acquiring an additional 673,438 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,523,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Guardant Health by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,926,315 shares of the company's stock worth $182,836,000 after purchasing an additional 606,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in Guardant Health by 124.3% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 570,095 shares of the company's stock worth $35,620,000 after purchasing an additional 315,896 shares during the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on GH shares. Citigroup upped their target price on Guardant Health from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Leerink Partners increased their target price on Guardant Health from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Guardant Health in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Guardant Health from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $125.95.

Guardant Health Price Performance

Shares of Guardant Health stock opened at $78.60 on Monday. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.36 and a 12 month high of $120.74. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.97. The stock has a market cap of $10.31 billion, a PE ratio of -23.75 and a beta of 1.64.

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

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In other news, Director Medina Manuel Hidalgo sold 1,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.54, for a total value of $119,002.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,193 shares in the company, valued at $109,207.22. The trade was a 52.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Brian Bell sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.04, for a total value of $261,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 43,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,795,031.04. This trade represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 17,051 shares of company stock valued at $1,743,792. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.