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

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.40.

Several brokerages have recently commented on GH. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Guardant Health from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Guardant Health from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Friday, April 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Guardant Health news, insider Kumud Kalia purchased 2,187 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $17.82 per share, for a total transaction of $38,972.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,706.04. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GH. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Guardant Health by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,130,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,084,000 after buying an additional 180,424 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Guardant Health by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 834,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,562,000 after acquiring an additional 161,986 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the fourth quarter valued at $233,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 4th quarter worth about $3,868,000. Finally, Eventide Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 3,888,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,174,000 after purchasing an additional 298,616 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GH opened at $16.16 on Wednesday. Guardant Health has a 52-week low of $16.03 and a 52-week high of $41.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 6.24 and a current ratio of 6.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of -3.78 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.45.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($1.58) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.93) by ($0.65). Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 301.94% and a negative net margin of 85.02%. The firm had revenue of $155.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.71 million. Analysts forecast that Guardant Health will post -3.49 EPS for the current 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.