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

Key Points

• Guardant Health has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 25 research firms, with 23 buy ratings, 1 strong buy, and 1 sell. The average 1-year target price is about $155.70.
• Several analysts recently raised price targets on the stock, including Barclays, BTIG Research, and Citigroup, while Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage with an outperform rating. These updates reflect generally bullish sentiment around the company.
• Insiders have been selling shares recently, including the CFO and a director, while institutional ownership remains high at 92.6%. Guardant Health is a precision oncology company focused on blood-based cancer diagnostics.

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-five research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twenty-three have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $155.6957.

Several analysts have issued reports on GH shares. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Guardant Health in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $185.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on Guardant Health from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. BTIG Research increased their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $150.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th.

Guardant Health Price Performance

NASDAQ GH opened at $158.40 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -46.73 and a beta of 1.59. Guardant Health has a 12 month low of $40.35 and a 12 month high of $174.08. The company's fifty day moving average price is $128.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guardant Health

In related news, Director Musa Tariq sold 1,951 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.16, for a total transaction of $255,893.16. Following the sale, the director owned 11,048 shares in the company, valued at $1,449,055.68. This represents a 15.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Michael Brian Bell sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.62, for a total transaction of $257,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 47,509 shares in the company, valued at $6,110,607.58. This represents a 4.04% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 708,681 shares of company stock worth $90,566,438. 5.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. World Investment Advisors acquired a new position in Guardant Health during the fourth quarter worth about $1,664,000. Algert Global LLC raised its position in Guardant Health by 169.1% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 120,114 shares of the company's stock worth $7,505,000 after acquiring an additional 75,474 shares in the last quarter. Iron Triangle Partners LP lifted its holdings in Guardant Health by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Triangle Partners LP now owns 400,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,992,000 after acquiring an additional 100,000 shares during the last quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd lifted its holdings in Guardant Health by 197.8% in the 4th quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd now owns 107,787 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,009,000 after acquiring an additional 71,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighVista Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Guardant Health by 128.5% in the 3rd quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 64,583 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,035,000 after acquiring an additional 36,318 shares during the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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