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

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $113.91 and last traded at $107.57, with a volume of 2356343 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $110.17.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GH shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $85.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $93.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Guardant Health and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group upped their target price on Guardant Health from $80.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price target on Guardant Health from $100.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.81.

Guardant Health Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $13.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.83 and a beta of 1.58. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.52.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.39) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by $0.09. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.88) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Medina Manuel Hidalgo sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $131,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $83,685. This represents a 61.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.05, for a total transaction of $10,505,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 168,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,671,826.15. The trade was a 37.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 436,694 shares of company stock valued at $45,632,343. 6.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GH. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Guardant Health by 56.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 71,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,012,000 after purchasing an additional 25,831 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 1st quarter worth $274,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the 1st quarter valued at about $809,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 50.5% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 277.8% in the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 20,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,071,000 after purchasing an additional 15,128 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

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.