Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) have been given an average recommendation of “Buy” by the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.60.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GH. Leerink Partners reduced their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on Guardant Health from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Guardant Health from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Guardant Health from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $93,660. This represents a 46.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 2,896 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total transaction of $86,590.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,648 shares in the company, valued at $228,675.20. This trade represents a 27.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,432 shares of company stock worth $175,423 over the last quarter. 5.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 188.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,127,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,325,000 after purchasing an additional 6,618,785 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in Guardant Health by 1,282.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,226,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,128,000 after buying an additional 1,137,482 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Guardant Health by 233.5% during the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 1,512,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,701,000 after buying an additional 1,059,104 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in Guardant Health during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $21,389,000. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $15,624,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

Guardant Health stock opened at $31.67 on Monday. Guardant Health has a fifty-two week low of $15.81 and a fifty-two week high of $38.53. The company has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.47 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $29.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.70, a quick ratio of 5.85 and a current ratio of 6.22.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.88) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.55) by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $191.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.49 million. Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 1,200.44% and a negative net margin of 74.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.73) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Guardant Health will post -3.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Guardant Health Company Profile

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.