The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Raises Holdings in Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) by 89.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,205,701 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 569,766 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Guardant Health were worth $111,371,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 164.7% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascentis Independent Advisors bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. 92.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Guardant Health Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of GH stock opened at $143.62 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -42.37 and a beta of 1.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $141.31 and a 200 day moving average of $112.49. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.35 and a 52 week high of $174.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Friday, June 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler set a $127.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, BTIG Research raised their target price on Guardant Health from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $160.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Guardant Health news, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.30, for a total value of $12,630,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,012,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $254,231,669.70. This represents a 4.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 210,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.89, for a total transaction of $23,076,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,886,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,307,924.56. This represents a 10.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 708,565 shares of company stock worth $90,556,597. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

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.