Raymond James Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH)

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Raymond James in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $59.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $39.00. Raymond James’ price target indicates a potential upside of 33.72% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Guardant Health from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $36.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Guardant Health from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Guardant Health currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $44.39.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

Shares of GH stock traded down $3.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $44.12. 2,099,761 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,455,924. Guardant Health has a 12 month low of $15.81 and a 12 month high of $50.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a PE ratio of -10.43 and a beta of 1.32.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.90) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.75) by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $201.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $192.50 million. Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 1,200.44% and a negative net margin of 74.02%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Guardant Health will post -3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $81,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,660. This trade represents a 46.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,652 shares of company stock worth $93,192. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guardant Health

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in Guardant Health during the third quarter worth $15,624,000. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at $206,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Guardant Health by 54.6% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 195,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,473,000 after purchasing an additional 68,883 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,822,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,754,000 after acquiring an additional 29,686 shares during the period. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the 4th quarter worth $377,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.