Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analyst consensus: Guardant Health has an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from 22 analysts (20 buys, 1 hold, 1 sell) with an average 1-year target of $125.20.
• Quarterly results: Revenue of $281.27M beat expectations ($269.74M) and grew 39.4% year-over-year, but EPS of ($0.50) missed the consensus of ($0.43), underscoring continued unprofitability.
• Insider activity: Insiders have been net sellers—8,596 shares sold in the last 90 days worth $775,767—and company insiders currently own 6.10% of the stock.

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-two analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $125.20.

GH has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Guardant Health in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on Guardant Health from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 20th.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In other news, Director Musa Tariq sold 348 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.09, for a total value of $30,655.32. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,394 shares in the company, valued at $739,427.46. This trade represents a 3.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Terilyn J. Monroe sold 3,832 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.68, for a total value of $355,149.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 20,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,945,353.20. This trade represents a 15.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,596 shares of company stock worth $775,767. Company insiders own 6.10% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guardant Health

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in Guardant Health during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Chesapeake Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in Guardant Health by 164.7% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 352 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

Shares of GH stock opened at $83.41 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.20 and a beta of 1.64. Guardant Health has a one year low of $36.36 and a one year high of $120.74. The company's 50-day moving average is $89.69 and its 200 day moving average is $95.97.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $281.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $269.74 million. The business's quarterly revenue was up 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.62) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Guardant Health will post -2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Guardant Health Company Profile

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.

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