Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-four ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $102.8095.

Several research firms have recently commented on GH. BTIG Research raised their price target on Guardant Health from $100.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $80.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th.

Guardant Health Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:GH opened at $112.14 on Tuesday. Guardant Health has a fifty-two week low of $34.88 and a fifty-two week high of $115.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $103.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.98. The company has a market cap of $14.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.93 and a beta of 1.58.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Guardant Health

In related news, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 90,565 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.82, for a total transaction of $9,402,458.30. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Darya Chudova sold 5,451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.04, for a total value of $567,122.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 7,012 shares in the company, valued at $729,528.48. This trade represents a 43.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 436,552 shares of company stock worth $45,622,836. Corporate insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in Guardant Health during the 3rd quarter valued at about $114,421,000. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Guardant Health by 100.4% in the second quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 2,823,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,935,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414,381 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $64,136,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Guardant Health by 78.2% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,319,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Guardant Health by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,558,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,184,000 after purchasing an additional 763,834 shares during the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.