Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Hits New 52-Week High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Guardant Health's stock reached a new 52-week high at $53.68, closing at $51.28 after significant trading volume of over 1.9 million shares.
• Analysts have shown strong confidence in the company, with 19 rating it as a "buy" or higher, and several raising their target prices, the highest being $65.00 from Canaccord Genuity.
• In recent earnings, Guardant Health reported revenue of $232.09 million, surpassing estimates, alongside a narrower loss per share of ($0.44), indicating a year-over-year revenue increase of 31.0%.

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $53.68 and last traded at $51.28, with a volume of 1906377 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $44.59.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GH has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective 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. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Guardant Health to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Guardant Health from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.50.

Guardant Health Stock Up 1.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.36 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $48.11 and a 200-day moving average of $45.18.

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

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In related news, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.88, for a total transaction of $5,088,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,971,830 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $100,326,710.40. This represents a 4.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ian T. Clark sold 6,672 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.38, for a total value of $322,791.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,851 shares of the company's stock, valued at $476,591.38. This represents a 40.38% decrease in their position. 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 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 120.1% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 612 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in Guardant Health by 50.5% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 635 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 358.4% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 706 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 552 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the first quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Institutional investors 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.