Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Stock

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) had its target price hoisted by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $185.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.48% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Friday, July 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Guardant Health from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Guardant Health from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.27.

Guardant Health Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:GH opened at $158.83 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.31 billion, a PE ratio of -45.51 and a beta of 1.60. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $144.24 and a 200-day moving average of $113.78. Guardant Health has a 12 month low of $41.19 and a 12 month high of $176.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Myrtle S. Potter sold 1,556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.16, for a total transaction of $204,084.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,971 shares in the company, valued at $2,750,556.36. The trade was a 6.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 100,000 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.30, for a total transaction of $12,630,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,012,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $254,231,669.70. This represents a 4.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 708,565 shares of company stock valued at $90,556,597 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guardant Health

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SWS Partners purchased a new position in Guardant Health during the second quarter worth about $11,190,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 159.9% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 301,041 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,165,000 after purchasing an additional 185,200 shares during the period. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors bought a new position in Guardant Health during the second quarter valued at about $213,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Guardant Health in the second quarter valued at about $72,000. Finally, MRA Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. MRA Advisory Group now owns 12,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,804,000 after purchasing an additional 706 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health, Inc is a precision oncology company specializing in blood-based cancer diagnostics. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Redwood City, California, the company develops non-invasive tests that use circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to profile genomic alterations in patients with solid tumors. Guardant Health’s mission is to advance cancer care by providing actionable data to clinicians, pharmaceutical partners and researchers worldwide.

The company’s flagship product, Guardant360, is a next-generation sequencing (NGS) assay designed to detect mutations, copy number variations and select fusions in more than 70 cancer-related genes.