Natixis Advisors LLC Buys New Position in Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC has acquired a new stake in Guardant Health, Inc., purchasing 23,098 shares for approximately $984,000 in the first quarter.
• Guardant Health has seen significant interest from institutional investors, with over 92.60% of its stock now owned by such entities, including notable increases from Deep Track Capital LP and Two Sigma Advisers LP.
• Several Wall Street analysts have issued positive ratings and revised target prices for Guardant Health, with an average target price now set at $57.50, reflecting a bullish outlook on the stock's performance.

Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 23,098 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $984,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GH. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the 1st quarter worth $366,000. Nkcfo LLC acquired a new position in Guardant Health during the first quarter worth about $107,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 8.7% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 33,129 shares of the company's stock worth $1,411,000 after acquiring an additional 2,641 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,862,000. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,035,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on GH shares. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities raised their target price on Guardant Health from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on Guardant Health from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays increased their target price on Guardant Health from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Guardant Health currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $57.50.

Guardant Health Stock Up 1.6%

GH traded up $0.91 on Thursday, hitting $59.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,791,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,381,855. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.14 and a 12 month high of $60.58. The firm has a market cap of $7.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.76 and a beta of 1.43. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $48.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.39.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.52) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $232.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.84) EPS. Guardant Health's quarterly revenue was up 31.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.88, for a total value of $5,088,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,971,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,326,710.40. This represents a 4.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Ian T. Clark sold 6,672 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.38, for a total value of $322,791.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,851 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $476,591.38. The trade was a 40.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 235,516 shares of company stock valued at $11,848,754. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health, Inc, a precision oncology company, provides blood and tissue tests, data sets, and analytics in the United States and internationally. The company provides Guardant360; Guardant360 LDT; Guardant360 CDx Test; Guardant360 Response Test; Guardant360 TissueNext Test; GuardantINFINITY Test; GuardantConnect, an integrated software-based solution designed for clinical and biopharmaceutical customers to connect patients tested with assays with actionable alterations with potentially relevant clinical studies; GuardantOMNI Test for advanced stage cancer; and GuardantINFORM, an in-silico research platform for tumor evolution and treatment resistance across various biomarker-driven cancers.