Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Trading Up 7.2% – Time to Buy?

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)’s share price was up 7.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $105.28 and last traded at $105.2190. Approximately 314,569 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 2,010,075 shares. The stock had previously closed at $98.19.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on GH shares. Leerink Partners upped their price target on Guardant Health from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $129.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Citigroup upped their price target on Guardant Health from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Evercore set a $110.00 target price on Guardant Health in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Guardant Health from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.00.

Guardant Health Trading Up 2.6%

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $90.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.81 and a beta of 1.48.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.43) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $281.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.74 million. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 39.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.62) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.92 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guardant Health

In related news, CFO Michael Brian Bell sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.04, for a total transaction of $261,120.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 43,601 shares in the company, valued at $3,795,031.04. This represents a 6.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total value of $5,016,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,096,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $210,321,281.28. This trade represents a 2.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 58,712 shares of company stock worth $5,802,899 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Chesapeake Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in Guardant Health by 164.7% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. 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.