Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 113,649 Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group trimmed its Guardant Health stake by 15.1%, selling 113,649 shares and leaving it with 640,505 shares (about 0.51% of the company) valued at roughly $65.4 million.
• Sell-side sentiment is largely positive: the consensus rating is a “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $125.20, and multiple firms recently raised targets or issued overweight/buy ratings.
• Guardant reported Q4 revenue up 39.4% to $281.3 million but missed on EPS (‑$0.50 vs. consensus ‑$0.43), and insiders have sold about 17,051 shares (~$1.74 million) over the past 90 days.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Free Report) by 15.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 640,505 shares of the company's stock after selling 113,649 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.51% of Guardant Health worth $65,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Emerald Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 24.8% during the 3rd quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 873,203 shares of the company's stock worth $54,558,000 after buying an additional 173,281 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,554,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 54.4% in the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 301,449 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,835,000 after acquiring an additional 106,263 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the 2nd quarter valued at $567,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in Guardant Health by 10.4% during the third quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 705,217 shares of the company's stock worth $43,716,000 after acquiring an additional 66,617 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on GH. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Friday, January 9th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Guardant Health from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Guardant Health presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $125.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guardant Health

In related news, Director Musa Tariq sold 348 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the director owned 8,394 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $739,427.46. This trade represents a 3.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Terilyn J. Monroe sold 3,832 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.68, for a total value of $355,149.76. Following the transaction, the insider owned 20,990 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,945,353.20. This trade represents a 15.44% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,051 shares of company stock worth $1,743,792. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Guardant Health Trading Up 5.1%

NASDAQ GH opened at $86.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $11.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.10 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.31. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.36 and a 12-month high of $120.74.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.43) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $281.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $269.74 million. The company's quarterly revenue was up 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.62) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 EPS for the current year.

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.

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