ARK Investment Management LLC Sells 2,028,263 Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

ARK Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) by 71.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 795,234 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,028,263 shares during the quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.63% of Guardant Health worth $49,686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GH. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Guardant Health during the second quarter valued at approximately $64,136,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Guardant Health by 78.2% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,319,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,144 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,558,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $185,184,000 after buying an additional 763,834 shares in the last quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its holdings in Guardant Health by 49.6% in the 2nd quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,030,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,623,000 after buying an additional 673,438 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter worth $39,523,000. Institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. BTIG Research upped their price target on Guardant Health from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Friday, February 20th. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Guardant Health currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.57.

Guardant Health Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ GH opened at $93.02 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $12.20 billion, a PE ratio of -28.10 and a beta of 1.67. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.88 and a 12 month high of $120.74. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $105.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $88.45.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $281.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $269.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.62) EPS. Guardant Health’s quarterly revenue was up 39.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Guardant Health news, Director Medina Manuel Hidalgo sold 1,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $131,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,685. The trade was a 61.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Darya Chudova sold 5,451 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.04, for a total transaction of $567,122.04. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 7,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,528.48. This trade represents a 43.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 379,344 shares of company stock worth $39,734,840 over the last ninety days. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.