Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Stock Position in Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) by 47.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,305 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,585 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Guardant Health were worth $1,598,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GH. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter valued at about $114,421,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Guardant Health by 33.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,636,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $575,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,414,441 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth about $128,499,000. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 674.5% in the fourth quarter. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC now owns 851,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,019,000 after acquiring an additional 741,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth about $55,073,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Guardant Health Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of NASDAQ GH opened at $152.29 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $136.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $111.01. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.35 and a 52-week high of $174.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -44.92 and a beta of 1.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guardant Health

In related news, Director Musa Tariq sold 1,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.16, for a total transaction of $255,893.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,048 shares in the company, valued at $1,449,055.68. This trade represents a 15.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Michael Brian Bell sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.62, for a total transaction of $257,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 47,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,110,607.58. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 708,565 shares of company stock worth $90,556,597. 5.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Friday. Guggenheim upped their target price on Guardant Health from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $130.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $160.04.

About Guardant Health

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.