Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• "Moderate Buy" consensus from 23 brokerages (21 buys, 1 hold, 1 sell) with an average 1‑year price target of about $122.57 — several firms recently raised targets, with Leerink lifting its target to $180.
• Significant insider selling: CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 90,565 shares (~$9.4M) and CTO Darya Chudova sold 5,451 shares (~$567k); insiders sold 116,034 shares worth $12.2M in the past three months, while insiders still own 6.10% of the company.
• Recent results mixed: Guardant reported a ($0.50) EPS miss (vs. ($0.43) estimate) but revenue of $281.3M beat estimates and rose 39.4% year‑over‑year.

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) have received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-three brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $122.5714.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GH shares. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Evercore set a $110.00 price target on Guardant Health in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on Guardant Health from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Darya Chudova sold 5,451 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.04, for a total transaction of $567,122.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 7,012 shares of the company's stock, valued at $729,528.48. This trade represents a 43.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 90,565 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.82, for a total transaction of $9,402,458.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,047,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at $212,534,386.26. This represents a 4.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 116,034 shares of company stock valued at $12,202,492. Company insiders own 6.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Chesapeake Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Guardant Health by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 352 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Guardant Health Price Performance

Guardant Health stock opened at $90.49 on Wednesday. The stock's 50 day moving average is $104.89 and its 200 day moving average is $89.54. The firm has a market cap of $11.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.34 and a beta of 1.67. Guardant Health has a one year low of $36.36 and a one year high of $120.74.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.43) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $281.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.62) earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Guardant Health will post -2.9 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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