Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Hits New 12-Month High - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Guardant Health shares reached a new 52-week high of $55.69 amid strong trading activity, with a volume of over 1.85 million shares changing hands.
• Analysts have increased their price targets for the stock, with Scotiabank raising its target from $57.00 to $60.00 and UBS Group from $65.00 to $70.00, reflecting a consensus rating of "Buy."
• In its recent quarterly earnings report, Guardant Health posted a revenue of $232.09 million, exceeding estimates and marking a 31% increase from the previous year.

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $55.69 and last traded at $55.10, with a volume of 1854592 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $54.80.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Guardant Health from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $60.00 price target (up from $50.00) on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Guardant Health to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.50.

Guardant Health Trading Up 0.5%

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $48.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.30. The firm has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.45 and a beta of 1.43.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.52) by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $232.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.19 million. Guardant Health's quarterly revenue was up 31.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.84) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Musa Tariq sold 3,213 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.47, for a total transaction of $158,947.11. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,190 shares in the company, valued at $355,689.30. This represents a 30.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Myrtle S. Potter sold 2,626 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $130,512.20. Following the sale, the director owned 18,180 shares of the company's stock, valued at $903,546. This trade represents a 12.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 235,516 shares of company stock worth $11,848,754 over the last ninety days. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Deep Track Capital LP raised its stake in Guardant Health by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 6,419,566 shares of the company's stock valued at $196,118,000 after buying an additional 419,006 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Guardant Health by 0.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,920,714 shares of the company's stock valued at $152,014,000 after buying an additional 13,088 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Guardant Health by 100.4% in the second quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 2,823,497 shares of the company's stock valued at $146,935,000 after buying an additional 1,414,381 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Guardant Health by 100.9% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,794,667 shares of the company's stock valued at $119,053,000 after buying an additional 1,403,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 6.3% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 2,777,040 shares of the company's stock valued at $118,302,000 after purchasing an additional 164,263 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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