Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Guardant Health's shares surged after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target from $60 to $70, with the stock now trading at approximately $62.30.
• Multiple analysts have issued positive ratings, with targets ranging from $60 to $72, indicating strong bullish sentiment towards the company.
• Insider trading activity included significant sales by both the Director and CEO, reducing their respective stock holdings by over 12% and 71%, raising concerns among some investors.

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $60.00 to $70.00. The stock had previously closed at $57.67, but opened at $59.37. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Guardant Health shares last traded at $62.30, with a volume of 670,238 shares trading hands.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Guggenheim raised their target price on Guardant Health from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on Guardant Health from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho raised their price target on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Guardant Health in a report on Monday. They set an "overweight" rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $61.89.

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In other news, Director Medina Manuel Hidalgo sold 2,165 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.16, for a total transaction of $117,256.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 851 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,090.16. The trade was a 71.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 300,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.45, for a total value of $17,835,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,123,499 shares in the company, valued at $126,242,015.55. This trade represents a 12.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 402,691 shares of company stock worth $23,069,965 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in Guardant Health during the 1st quarter worth about $232,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in Guardant Health by 37.3% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 60,187 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,564,000 after buying an additional 16,363 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in Guardant Health in the 1st quarter worth about $866,000. Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new stake in Guardant Health in the 1st quarter valued at $279,000. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the first quarter worth approximately $442,000. Institutional investors own 92.60% of the company's stock.

Guardant Health Trading Up 8.0%

The firm has a market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.64 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $55.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.55.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.52) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $232.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.19 million. Guardant Health's revenue was up 31.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.84) EPS. Guardant Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

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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