Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Shares Sold by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its position in shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Free Report) by 77.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 946,025 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,286,938 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.77% of Guardant Health worth $20,188,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 188.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,127,528 shares of the company's stock valued at $232,325,000 after buying an additional 6,618,785 shares during the period. Eventide Asset Management LLC grew its position in Guardant Health by 2.0% in the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 3,837,300 shares of the company's stock worth $88,028,000 after acquiring an additional 76,762 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Guardant Health by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,822,220 shares of the company's stock worth $64,754,000 after acquiring an additional 29,686 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its position in Guardant Health by 233.5% in the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 1,512,694 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,701,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059,104 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 31.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,280,221 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,973,000 after purchasing an additional 309,157 shares during the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Guardant Health from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Leerink Partners lowered their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $40.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 2,896 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total value of $86,590.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,648 shares in the company, valued at approximately $228,675.20. This represents a 27.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $81,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $93,660. The trade was a 46.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,432 shares of company stock worth $175,423 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company's stock.

Guardant Health Stock Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:GH traded up $0.54 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $31.67. The company had a trading volume of 2,414,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,035,487. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.81 and a 12-month high of $38.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.47 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 6.22, a quick ratio of 5.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.70. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $28.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.32.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.55) by ($0.33). Guardant Health had a negative net margin of 74.02% and a negative return on equity of 1,200.44%. The company had revenue of $191.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $170.49 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.73) EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health, Inc, a precision oncology company, provides blood and tissue tests, data sets, and analytics in the United States and internationally. The company provides Guardant360; Guardant360 LDT; Guardant360 CDx Test; Guardant360 Response Test; Guardant360 TissueNext Test; GuardantINFINITY Test; GuardantConnect, an integrated software-based solution designed for clinical and biopharmaceutical customers to connect patients tested with assays with actionable alterations with potentially relevant clinical studies; GuardantOMNI Test for advanced stage cancer; and GuardantINFORM, an in-silico research platform for tumor evolution and treatment resistance across various biomarker-driven cancers.