Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Shares Up 3.9%

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) shares shot up 3.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $18.82 and last traded at $18.66. 453,331 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 1,687,167 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.96.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Wolfe Research began coverage on Guardant Health in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Guardant Health from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Guardant Health from $43.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on Guardant Health in a research report on Thursday, December 14th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.30.

Guardant Health Stock Up 11.8 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.49 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 6.24, a current ratio of 6.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.18. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $20.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.46.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($1.58) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, insider Kumud Kalia bought 2,187 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.82 per share, for a total transaction of $38,972.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $226,706.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. bought a new position in Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth approximately $167,137,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Guardant Health by 113.8% in the second quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 4,008,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $143,508,000 after buying an additional 2,133,582 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Guardant Health by 71.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,081,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,607,000 after buying an additional 2,110,240 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Guardant Health by 243.3% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,515,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,435,000 after buying an additional 1,783,131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,520,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

About Guardant Health

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.