Truist Financial Corp Grows Stake in Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) by 96.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,940 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,831 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Guardant Health were worth $1,832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Guardant Health by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,160,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,242,101,000 after buying an additional 251,939 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 317,906 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 606,368 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $114,421,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 310,931 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim raised their target price on Guardant Health from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Guardant Health from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their target price on Guardant Health from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Guardant Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Guardant Health news, Director Medina Manuel Hidalgo sold 1,300 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.54, for a total value of $119,002.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $109,207.22. This trade represents a 52.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Musa Tariq sold 348 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.09, for a total value of $30,655.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 8,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $739,427.46. The trade was a 3.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 58,596 shares of company stock worth $5,791,767. 5.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Guardant Health Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:GH opened at $98.66 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.10 and a beta of 1.48. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.36 and a 12-month high of $120.74.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last posted its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.74 million. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.62) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.87 EPS for the current year.

Guardant Health 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.