Guardian Pharmacy Services (NYSE:GRDN) Price Target Raised to $43.00

Key Points

• Price target raised to $43: Truist bumped its target on Guardian Pharmacy Services from $38 to $43 and kept a "buy" rating (implying ~9.2% upside), while consensus analyst coverage remains a "Buy" with an average target near $40.20.
• Quarterly beat and growth: The company posted EPS of $0.37 versus a $0.27 estimate and revenue of $397.62M versus $390.04M, with revenue up 17.4% year-over-year and a 31.64% return on equity.
• Significant insider selling: Insiders have sold roughly 9.73 million shares (~$288.7M) in the last 90 days—including large sales by Equity Fund L.P. Cardinal and Fred Burke that reduced their stakes by about 44%—though insiders still own ~32.96% of the stock.

Guardian Pharmacy Services (NYSE:GRDN - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by equities researchers at Truist Financial from $38.00 to $43.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Truist Financial's price objective indicates a potential upside of 9.18% from the company's previous close.

GRDN has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Guardian Pharmacy Services in a research report on Monday, March 30th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $44.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Guardian Pharmacy Services from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Guardian Pharmacy Services from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Guardian Pharmacy Services from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Guardian Pharmacy Services from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Guardian Pharmacy Services currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $40.20.

Guardian Pharmacy Services Stock Performance

GRDN stock traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $39.39. The company had a trading volume of 56,346 shares, compared to its average volume of 380,342. The firm has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a PE ratio of 51.14 and a beta of 0.47. Guardian Pharmacy Services has a 12 month low of $19.17 and a 12 month high of $41.36. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $34.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.76.

Guardian Pharmacy Services (NYSE:GRDN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 11th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $397.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $390.04 million. Guardian Pharmacy Services had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 31.64%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Guardian Pharmacy Services will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Equity Fund L.P. Cardinal sold 275,728 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.68, for a total value of $8,183,607.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 345,123 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,243,250.64. This trade represents a 44.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Fred Burke sold 671,432 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.68, for a total value of $19,928,101.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 840,413 shares in the company, valued at $24,943,457.84. This trade represents a 44.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 9,726,405 shares of company stock valued at $288,679,700 in the last ninety days. 32.96% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardian Pharmacy Services

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GRDN. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Guardian Pharmacy Services by 418.7% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,046,877 shares of the company's stock worth $26,922,000 after buying an additional 845,048 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in shares of Guardian Pharmacy Services in the 4th quarter worth $19,126,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Guardian Pharmacy Services by 725.2% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 342,038 shares of the company's stock worth $8,972,000 after buying an additional 300,587 shares during the last quarter. Aristotle Capital Boston LLC increased its holdings in shares of Guardian Pharmacy Services by 58.5% in the 3rd quarter. Aristotle Capital Boston LLC now owns 649,463 shares of the company's stock worth $17,035,000 after buying an additional 239,790 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TimesSquare Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Guardian Pharmacy Services by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 1,048,136 shares of the company's stock worth $31,538,000 after buying an additional 187,963 shares during the last quarter.

About Guardian Pharmacy Services

Guardian Pharmacy Services, Inc, a pharmacy service company, provides a suite of technology-enabled services designed to help residents of long-term health care facilities (LTCFs) in the United States. Its individualized clinical, drug dispensing, and administration capabilities are used to serve the needs of residents in lower acuity LTCFs, such as assisted living facilities and behavioral health facilities and group homes. The company's Guardian Compass includes dashboards created using data from its data warehouse to help its local pharmacies plan, track, and optimize their business operations; and GuardianShield Programs for LTCFs.

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