Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $121.01 and last traded at $119.8680, with a volume of 953326 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $114.97.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on GH. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Piper Sandler set a $127.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday. Evercore set a $110.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Guardant Health has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.00.

Guardant Health Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $91.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.09 and a beta of 1.48.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.50) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.43) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $281.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $269.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.62) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In related news, Director Medina Manuel Hidalgo sold 1,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.09, for a total value of $133,862.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $175,520.51. This trade represents a 43.27% 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, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 210,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.89, for a total transaction of $23,076,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,886,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,307,924.56. The trade was a 10.02% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 296,838 shares of company stock valued at $31,878,906. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guardant Health

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GH. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 56.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 71,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,012,000 after buying an additional 25,831 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the first quarter worth approximately $274,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 15.8% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 77,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,023,000 after buying an additional 10,538 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 9.4% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 632,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,922,000 after buying an additional 54,284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 56.4% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 111,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,800,000 after buying an additional 40,209 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Guardant Health Company Profile

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.