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

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.78.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GH shares. Craig Hallum started coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $28.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on Guardant Health from $45.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Guardant Health from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Friday, April 5th.

Guardant Health Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GH opened at $19.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.54 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.18, a current ratio of 6.54 and a quick ratio of 6.24. Guardant Health has a 1-year low of $15.81 and a 1-year high of $41.06. The business has a 50-day moving average of $18.36 and a 200-day moving average of $22.36.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($1.58) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.93) by ($0.65). The company had revenue of $155.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.71 million. Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 301.94% and a negative net margin of 85.02%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Guardant Health will post -3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, insider Kumud Kalia bought 2,187 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $17.82 per share, for a total transaction of $38,972.34. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 12,722 shares in the company, valued at $226,706.04. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 6.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CWM LLC increased its stake in Guardant Health by 137.1% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Guardant Health by 362.3% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 1,844 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Guardant Health by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the first quarter worth about $57,000. 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.