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

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.60.

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

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $81,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,660. The trade was a 46.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 2,896 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total value of $86,590.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $228,675.20. This trade represents a 27.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,432 shares of company stock worth $175,423. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the third quarter valued at about $15,624,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 54.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 195,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,473,000 after acquiring an additional 68,883 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,822,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,754,000 after acquiring an additional 29,686 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Guardant Health by 1,282.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,226,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,137,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Light Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 119.7% in the 2nd quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 416,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,042,000 after purchasing an additional 227,202 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

Shares of GH stock opened at $36.59 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 6.22, a quick ratio of 5.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.70. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.61. Guardant Health has a 12 month low of $15.81 and a 12 month high of $38.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.52 billion, a PE ratio of -8.63 and a beta of 1.28.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $170.49 million. Guardant Health had a negative net margin of 74.02% and a negative return on equity of 1,200.44%. Guardant Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.73) EPS. Analysts forecast 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.