SG Americas Securities LLC Invests $1.74 Million in Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 17,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,741,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the 3rd quarter worth $114,421,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 27.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,558,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $185,184,000 after acquiring an additional 763,834 shares in the last quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 49.6% in the second quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,030,428 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,623,000 after acquiring an additional 673,438 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Guardant Health in the third quarter worth about $39,523,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Guardant Health by 72.4% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,465,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,261,000 after acquiring an additional 615,429 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Guardant Health news, CFO Michael Brian Bell sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.04, for a total value of $261,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 43,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,795,031.04. This represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Medina Manuel Hidalgo sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director directly owned 1,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $109,207.22. The trade was a 52.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 23,250 shares of company stock valued at $2,512,917 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

Guardant Health stock opened at $93.83 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $97.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.94. The company has a market cap of $12.31 billion, a PE ratio of -28.35 and a beta of 1.64. Guardant Health, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.36 and a fifty-two week high of $120.74.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Evercore set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $125.95.

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.