Guardant Health, Inc. $GH Shares Bought by Franklin Resources Inc.

Key Points

• Franklin Resources raised its stake in Guardant Health by 26.1% in Q3, buying 606,368 shares to hold 2,926,315 shares (~2.32% ownership) valued at about $182.8 million, and institutional investors now own roughly 92.6% of the stock.
• Insider selling has been notable: CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 90,565 shares for about $9.4 million, and insiders have sold 116,034 shares (~$12.2 million) over the last 90 days, leaving insiders with 6.10% ownership.
• Analysts remain mostly bullish—21 Buy, 1 Hold, 1 Sell with an average price target of $122.57—while Guardant reported a revenue beat ($281.3M, +39.4% YoY) but missed EPS expectations (−$0.50 vs. −$0.43).

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Free Report) by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,926,315 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 606,368 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 2.32% of Guardant Health worth $182,836,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in Guardant Health by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,127,692 shares of the company's stock valued at $320,378,000 after purchasing an additional 317,906 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Guardant Health by 27.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,558,501 shares of the company's stock valued at $185,184,000 after buying an additional 763,834 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Guardant Health by 0.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,920,714 shares of the company's stock valued at $152,014,000 after buying an additional 13,088 shares during the last quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 49.6% during the second quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,030,428 shares of the company's stock valued at $105,623,000 after acquiring an additional 673,438 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Guardant Health by 21.2% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,776,369 shares of the company's stock worth $110,988,000 after acquiring an additional 310,931 shares during the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In related news, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 90,565 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.82, for a total transaction of $9,402,458.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,047,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at $212,534,386.26. The trade was a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Terilyn J. Monroe sold 10,031 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.08, for a total value of $1,124,274.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 20,990 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,352,559.20. This trade represents a 32.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 116,034 shares of company stock worth $12,202,492 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GH shares. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on Guardant Health from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $122.57.

Guardant Health Stock Down 4.6%

GH stock opened at $84.02 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.49. The company has a market capitalization of $11.02 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.38 and a beta of 1.67. Guardant Health, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.36 and a fifty-two week high of $120.74.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $269.74 million. The company's quarterly revenue was up 39.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.62) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 EPS for the current year.

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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