Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Reaches New 12-Month High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Guardant Health reached a new 52-week high of $67.80, with increased trading volume of 202,000 shares, indicating strong investor interest in the company's stock.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Buy" for Guardant Health, with price targets increasing; Piper Sandler raised its target to $60, while Mizuho set a target of $65.
• The company's quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting a 31% increase in revenue year-over-year and earnings per share of ($0.44), exceeding the consensus estimate of ($0.52).

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $67.80 and last traded at $67.62, with a volume of 202000 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $67.42.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on GH. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Guardant Health from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised shares of Guardant Health to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and seventeen have issued a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $58.24.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

The stock's fifty day moving average price is $53.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.18. The firm has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a PE ratio of -17.95 and a beta of 1.46.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.52) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $232.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $211.19 million. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 31.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.84) EPS. Guardant Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Musa Tariq sold 3,213 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.47, for a total value of $158,947.11. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,190 shares in the company, valued at $355,689.30. The trade was a 30.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was 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 owned 1,971,830 shares in the company, valued at $100,326,710.40. This represents a 4.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 194,111 shares of company stock worth $9,780,576. 6.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in Guardant Health during the 1st quarter worth about $232,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Guardant Health during the first quarter worth about $866,000. Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new position in Guardant Health during the first quarter worth about $279,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Guardant Health during the first quarter worth about $442,000. Finally, 111 Capital acquired a new stake in Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at $254,000. Hedge funds and other 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.