Guardant Health, Inc. $GH Shares Sold by Pier Capital LLC

Key Points

• Pier Capital LLC cut its stake in Guardant Health by 68.1% in Q4, selling 72,315 shares and leaving it with 33,905 shares valued at about $3.46 million.
• Wall Street remains largely positive—19 analysts rate GH a Buy with a consensus “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.63, while several firms recently raised targets into the $130–$175 range.
• Guardant reported Q4 revenue of $281.27 million, up 39.4% year‑over‑year and above estimates, but missed on EPS at ($0.50); the stock trades around $92 with a market cap of $12.23 billion.

Pier Capital LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Free Report) by 68.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,905 shares of the company's stock after selling 72,315 shares during the quarter. Pier Capital LLC's holdings in Guardant Health were worth $3,463,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Guardant Health by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,160,768 shares of the company's stock worth $1,242,101,000 after purchasing an additional 251,939 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its holdings in Guardant Health by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,127,692 shares of the company's stock valued at $320,378,000 after buying an additional 317,906 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Guardant Health by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,926,315 shares of the company's stock valued at $182,836,000 after buying an additional 606,368 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter valued at about $114,421,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Guardant Health by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,776,369 shares of the company's stock valued at $110,988,000 after buying an additional 310,931 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a 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. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Guardant Health from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $175.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Friday, January 30th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Guardant Health has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $128.63.

Guardant Health Trading Up 0.0%

Guardant Health stock opened at $92.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $88.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.92. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.36 and a 52 week high of $120.74. The stock has a market cap of $12.23 billion, a PE ratio of -27.87 and a beta of 1.48.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $281.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.74 million. Guardant Health's quarterly revenue was up 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.62) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In other news, insider Terilyn J. Monroe sold 3,832 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.68, for a total value of $355,149.76. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,990 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,945,353.20. The trade was a 15.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Musa Tariq sold 348 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.09, for a total value of $30,655.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,394 shares in the company, valued at $739,427.46. This represents a 3.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,596 shares of company stock valued at $775,767. 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.