Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Cuts Stock Holdings in Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lowered its stake in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) by 34.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 166,384 shares of the company’s stock after selling 89,386 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Guardant Health were worth $16,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 251,939 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 6.6% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Guardant Health by 26.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,926,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $182,836,000 after purchasing an additional 606,368 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter valued at about $114,421,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,776,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,988,000 after buying an additional 310,931 shares in the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho set a $135.00 target price on Guardant Health in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Evercore set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.63.

Insider Activity

In other Guardant Health news, Director Musa Tariq sold 348 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.09, for a total value of $30,655.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 8,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $739,427.46. The trade was a 3.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Brian Bell sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 43,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,795,031.04. This represents a 6.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,596 shares of company stock worth $775,767. Insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

Shares of Guardant Health stock opened at $87.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.47 and a beta of 1.49. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.36 and a 52-week high of $120.74. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.91.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $281.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $269.74 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.62) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.87 EPS for the current fiscal 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.