VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Invests $3.94 Million in Guardant Health, Inc. $GH

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 26,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,938,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GH. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in Guardant Health by 16,079.2% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 21,129,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,170,123,000 after purchasing an additional 20,999,326 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $114,421,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 33.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,636,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,670,000 after buying an additional 1,414,441 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $208,592,000. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Guardant Health in the 2nd quarter valued at $196,737,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Guardant Health Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ GH opened at $162.78 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -46.64 and a beta of 1.57. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.40 and a 52 week high of $176.58.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.76) by $0.34. The business had revenue of $334.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $314.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.44) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 44.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.98 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GH shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $175.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chris Freeman sold 63,605 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.58, for a total value of $10,786,135.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 65,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,086,122.92. This trade represents a 49.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Musa Tariq sold 1,951 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.16, for a total value of $255,893.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 11,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,449,055.68. The trade was a 15.01% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 427,024 shares of company stock worth $67,113,285. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health, Inc (NASDAQ:GH) is a precision oncology company that develops blood-based diagnostic tests designed to help detect cancer, guide treatment decisions and monitor patients over time. Its liquid biopsy technologies analyze tumor-related signals in blood, reducing the need for tissue biopsies in certain clinical and research settings.

The company’s products include Guardant360 tests, which profile advanced cancers and can help identify potentially actionable genomic alterations; Guardant Reveal, which is used to assess residual disease and recurrence risk; and Guardant Shield, a blood-based screening test for colorectal cancer.