Fifth Third Bancorp Takes $279,000 Position in Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)

Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,052,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $368,205,000 after acquiring an additional 350,606 shares during the period. Deep Track Capital LP boosted its holdings in Guardant Health by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 6,419,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $196,118,000 after purchasing an additional 419,006 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in Guardant Health by 96.7% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,315,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,138,300 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in Guardant Health by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,890,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,761,000 after buying an additional 525,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its stake in Guardant Health by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 1,464,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,732,000 after buying an additional 197,729 shares during the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Guardant Health Price Performance

NASDAQ:GH opened at $50.57 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.92 and a beta of 1.37. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.14 and a 1 year high of $52.92. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.86.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.49) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.57) by $0.08. Guardant Health had a negative net margin of 53.82% and a negative return on equity of 1,200.44%. The company had revenue of $203.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.46) earnings per share. Guardant Health’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In other news, Director Myrtle S. Potter sold 2,626 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total transaction of $130,512.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $903,546. This trade represents a 12.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 3,337 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.22, for a total transaction of $157,573.14. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $526,503. This trade represents a 23.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 232,363 shares of company stock worth $11,509,565. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $56.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $53.76.

Guardant Health Profile

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.