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

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $141.9524.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GH. Mizuho increased their price objective on Guardant Health from $135.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $129.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Guardant Health in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Guardant Health from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, BTIG Research set a $160.00 price objective on Guardant Health and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

Shares of GH stock opened at $131.78 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $106.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.47 billion, a PE ratio of -38.87 and a beta of 1.61. Guardant Health has a fifty-two week low of $40.35 and a fifty-two week high of $135.00.

Insider Activity

In other Guardant Health news, Director Steve E. Krognes sold 9,294 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.51, for a total value of $1,231,547.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,354,517.22. The trade was a 47.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.98, for a total value of $1,269,800.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 11,183 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,017.34. This represents a 47.21% 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. Insiders sold a total of 449,006 shares of company stock valued at $51,148,938 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 56.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 71,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,012,000 after acquiring an additional 25,831 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the first quarter valued at approximately $274,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 15.8% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 77,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,023,000 after acquiring an additional 10,538 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 9.4% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 632,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,922,000 after acquiring an additional 54,284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 56.4% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 111,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,800,000 after acquiring an additional 40,209 shares in the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Guardant Health

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.