Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $252,000 Position in Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) by 31.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,966 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,976 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Guardant Health were worth $252,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GH. JNBA Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Guardant Health in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Guardant Health in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Guardant Health during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Guardant Health by 168.1% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153 shares in the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Guardant Health from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Leerink Partners lowered their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Guardant Health has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.60.

Guardant Health Price Performance

NASDAQ:GH opened at $35.88 on Tuesday. Guardant Health, Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.81 and a 52-week high of $38.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.70, a quick ratio of 5.85 and a current ratio of 6.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.46 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.49 and a 200 day moving average of $28.45.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.55) by ($0.33). Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 1,200.44% and a negative net margin of 74.02%. The firm 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 company posted ($0.73) earnings per share. Guardant Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -3.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.