Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $188.12 According to Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts remain bullish: Twenty-five firms give Guardant Health a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, with an average 12-month price target of $188.12. Recent targets range as high as $210.
• Guardant Health reported quarterly revenue of $334.98 million, up 44.3% year over year and above estimates, while its adjusted loss of $0.42 per share was narrower than expected.
• The stock opened at $177.25, near its 12-month high of $183.51. Institutional investors own 92.6% of shares, while insiders have sold roughly $51.7 million worth of stock over the past 90 days.

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-five research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $188.12.

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Guardant Health from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 31st.

Guardant Health Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:GH opened at $177.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $23.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -50.79 and a beta of 1.57. Guardant Health has a twelve month low of $59.03 and a twelve month high of $183.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $130.40.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.42) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.76) by $0.34. The company had revenue of $334.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $314.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.44) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 44.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Guardant Health will post -2.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Guardant Health news, Director Alex Azar, II sold 826 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $144,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $144,375. This represents a 50.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Terilyn Monroe sold 46,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.12, for a total value of $7,645,056.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 22,979 shares in the company, valued at $3,794,292.48. The trade was a 66.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 321,783 shares of company stock worth $51,715,100. 5.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,361,547 shares of the company's stock valued at $343,348,000 after purchasing an additional 435,232 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,213,657 shares of the company's stock worth $328,297,000 after purchasing an additional 277,001 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the second quarter valued at approximately $208,592,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the second quarter valued at approximately $196,737,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Guardant Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $128,499,000. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health, Inc NASDAQ: GH is a precision oncology company that develops blood-based diagnostic tests designed to help detect cancer, guide treatment decisions and monitor patients over time. Its liquid biopsy technologies analyze tumor-related signals in blood, reducing the need for tissue biopsies in certain clinical and research settings.

The company's products include Guardant360 tests, which profile advanced cancers and can help identify potentially actionable genomic alterations; Guardant Reveal, which is used to assess residual disease and recurrence risk; and Guardant Shield, a blood-based screening test for colorectal cancer.

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