Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $96.7143.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Guardant Health from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Guardant Health from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $100.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th.

Guardant Health Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ GH opened at $102.59 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $95.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.92. Guardant Health has a 52 week low of $29.91 and a 52 week high of $112.43. The stock has a market cap of $12.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.96 and a beta of 1.58.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.39) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by $0.09. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 38.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.88) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Guardant Health will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Guardant Health news, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 90,565 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.82, for a total value of $9,402,458.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,047,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,534,386.26. The trade was a 4.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Brian Bell sold 80,362 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.14, for a total value of $8,288,536.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 28,052 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,893,283.28. This represents a 74.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 426,663 shares of company stock valued at $44,508,069. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guardant Health

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Guardant Health by 50.5% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 635 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 120.1% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 358.4% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 153.5% in the third quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 768 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.