Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $40.60.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on GH shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Guardant Health from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Leerink Partners decreased their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on Guardant Health from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Guardant Health from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Guardant Health from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th.

Guardant Health Trading Up 8.4 %

NASDAQ:GH opened at $35.40 on Thursday. Guardant Health has a 1 year low of $15.81 and a 1 year high of $37.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.70, a quick ratio of 5.85 and a current ratio of 6.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $24.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.35 and a beta of 1.11.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.55) by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $191.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.49 million. Guardant Health had a negative net margin of 74.02% and a negative return on equity of 1,200.44%. Guardant Health’s revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.73) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Guardant Health will post -3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In other news, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 2,896 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total transaction of $86,590.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $228,675.20. This represents a 27.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its position in shares of Guardant Health by 254.0% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 114,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after buying an additional 81,887 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 2.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,436,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $235,925,000 after buying an additional 305,372 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Guardant Health in the 1st quarter worth about $75,000. First Light Asset Management LLC raised its position in Guardant Health by 31.7% in the first quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 189,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,915,000 after purchasing an additional 45,716 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adalta Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Guardant Health by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Adalta Capital Management LLC now owns 71,023 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after buying an additional 9,565 shares during the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Guardant Health

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.