Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $112.44 and last traded at $112.33, with a volume of 4490409 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $101.87.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on GH shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $73.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday, September 25th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $63.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on Guardant Health from $85.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Guardant Health from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Twenty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.71.

Guardant Health Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $14.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.99 and a beta of 1.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.21.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.39) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.48) by $0.09. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.88) EPS. Analysts forecast that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.05, for a total transaction of $10,505,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 168,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,671,826.15. The trade was a 37.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Terilyn J. Monroe sold 55,167 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.97, for a total transaction of $5,846,046.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 20,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,216,892.40. This trade represents a 72.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 426,663 shares of company stock valued at $44,508,069. Company insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guardant Health

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GH. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its holdings in Guardant Health by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,127,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $320,378,000 after buying an additional 317,906 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Guardant Health by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,558,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,184,000 after acquiring an additional 763,834 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 26.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,926,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $182,836,000 after purchasing an additional 606,368 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 0.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,920,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,014,000 after purchasing an additional 13,088 shares during the period. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 100.4% during the second quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 2,823,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,935,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414,381 shares in the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.