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

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Buy" from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $53.29.

GH has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Monday, May 5th.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

Shares of GH stock opened at $48.06 on Monday. Guardant Health has a 52-week low of $20.14 and a 52-week high of $52.92. The stock has a market cap of $5.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.50 and a beta of 1.37. The firm's 50-day moving average is $42.93 and its 200-day moving average is $41.13.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.49) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.57) by $0.08. Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 19,157.20% and a negative net margin of 59.05%. The firm had revenue of $203.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.46) earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Guardant Health will post -2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 106,784 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.01, for a total transaction of $5,233,483.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,202,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $107,952,954.72. This trade represents a 4.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 107,232 shares of company stock valued at $5,252,559 over the last quarter. 6.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Guardant Health by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,464,213 shares of the company's stock worth $44,732,000 after acquiring an additional 238,037 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $377,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,887 shares of the company's stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 929 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in Guardant Health by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 167,230 shares of the company's stock worth $5,109,000 after purchasing an additional 3,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.60% of the company's stock.

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.

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