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

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $73.31 and last traded at $70.85, with a volume of 1971215 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $72.15.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GH shares. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Guardant Health from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Guardant Health from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $73.00 target price on Guardant Health in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.29.

Guardant Health Stock Down 1.8%

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.15 and a beta of 1.53.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.52) by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $232.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.19 million. Guardant Health’s quarterly revenue was up 31.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.84) earnings per share. Guardant Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction, the director directly owned 851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,090.16. The trade was a 71.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 300,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,123,499 shares in the company, valued at $126,242,015.55. The trade was a 12.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 302,691 shares of company stock worth $17,984,628. 6.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GH. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health in the 1st quarter valued at $82,349,000. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Guardant Health by 100.4% in the 2nd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 2,823,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,935,000 after acquiring an additional 1,414,381 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Guardant Health by 100.9% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,794,667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,053,000 after purchasing an additional 1,403,670 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Guardant Health in the 2nd quarter valued at $64,136,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Guardant Health by 78.2% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,319,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,730,000 after buying an additional 1,018,144 shares in the last quarter. 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.