William Blair Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management acquired 1.31 million Guardant Health shares worth approximately $196.7 million, giving it a 0.98% stake. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 92.6% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with 23 Buy ratings and an average price target of $183.78. Recent firms raised targets as high as $200, while the stock opened at $170.69.
• Guardant Health reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with revenue rising 44.3% year over year to $335.0 million and a loss of $0.42 per share versus the expected $0.76 loss.

William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,311,320 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $196,737,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 0.98% of Guardant Health at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. World Investment Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at $1,664,000. Orbimed Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,199,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the second quarter worth approximately $1,772,000. SWS Partners purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the second quarter worth approximately $11,190,000. Finally, Styrax Capital LP increased its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Styrax Capital LP now owns 300,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,711,000 after acquiring an additional 18,411 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GH shares. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Guardant Health from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Guardant Health from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Stephens increased their target price on Guardant Health from $170.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Guardant Health presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $183.78.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

Guardant Health stock opened at $170.69 on Friday. Guardant Health, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.40 and a fifty-two week high of $176.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -48.91 and a beta of 1.60. The stock's fifty day moving average is $153.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $118.69.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.76) by $0.34. The business had revenue of $334.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $314.23 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.44) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 44.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In other news, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 143,028 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.54, for a total value of $21,674,463.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,881,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $285,097,657.44. The trade was a 7.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Chris Freeman sold 63,605 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.58, for a total transaction of $10,786,135.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 65,374 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,086,122.92. This represents a 49.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 521,818 shares of company stock worth $77,539,233 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

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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