Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Trading 7.6% Higher – Still a Buy?

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) rose 7.6% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $36.57 and last traded at $36.32. Approximately 530,169 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 1,219,949 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.76.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on GH shares. Leerink Partners cut their target price on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Guardant Health from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $40.60.

Guardant Health Stock Up 1.2 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.63 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $32.04 and a 200 day moving average of $28.55. The company has a current ratio of 6.22, a quick ratio of 5.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.70.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.55) by ($0.33). Guardant Health had a negative net margin of 74.02% and a negative return on equity of 1,200.44%. The firm had revenue of $191.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.73) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 2,896 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total value of $86,590.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,648 shares in the company, valued at approximately $228,675.20. This trade represents a 27.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $81,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,660. This trade represents a 46.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,432 shares of company stock worth $175,423 over the last quarter. 5.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Guardant Health during the third quarter worth about $15,624,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Guardant Health by 54.6% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 195,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,473,000 after buying an additional 68,883 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Guardant Health by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,822,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,754,000 after buying an additional 29,686 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 1,282.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,226,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,128,000 after buying an additional 1,137,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Light Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 119.7% during the 2nd quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 416,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,042,000 after acquiring an additional 227,202 shares during the last quarter. 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.