Van ECK Associates Corp Has $534,000 Stake in Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) by 47.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,559 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,260 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Guardant Health were worth $534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in Guardant Health during the 3rd quarter valued at $114,421,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 33.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,636,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414,441 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the second quarter valued at about $208,592,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the second quarter valued at about $196,737,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the 4th quarter worth about $128,499,000. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ian T. Clark sold 14,180 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.92, for a total value of $2,253,485.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $472,787. The trade was a 82.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Medina Hidalgo sold 1,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.24, for a total transaction of $279,208.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $748,277.44. This represents a 27.17% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 427,024 shares of company stock worth $67,113,285. 5.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Guardant Health Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of GH opened at $161.41 on Friday. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.40 and a 12 month high of $176.58. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $159.90 and its 200-day moving average is $122.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.66 billion, a PE ratio of -46.25 and a beta of 1.57.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.76) by $0.34. The company had revenue of $334.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $314.23 million. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 44.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.44) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on GH. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $170.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Guardant Health from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, UBS Group set a $150.00 price target on Guardant Health in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Guardant Health has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $183.78.

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.