Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $183.7826.

GH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Guardant Health from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Guardant Health from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Guardant Health in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $150.00 price target for the company. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Guardant Health from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st.

Guardant Health Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of GH stock opened at $165.11 on Friday. Guardant Health has a 12-month low of $53.40 and a 12-month high of $176.58. The company has a market capitalization of $22.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -47.31 and a beta of 1.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $149.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $116.27.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In related news, Director Musa Tariq sold 1,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.16, for a total transaction of $255,893.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 11,048 shares in the company, valued at $1,449,055.68. This represents a 15.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 143,028 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.54, for a total transaction of $21,674,463.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,881,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $285,097,657.44. The trade was a 7.07% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 738,050 shares of company stock valued at $98,859,427. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter valued at $114,421,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Guardant Health by 33.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,636,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $575,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,414,441 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the second quarter worth $196,737,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the fourth quarter valued at $128,499,000. Finally, Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 674.5% during the fourth quarter. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC now owns 851,958 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,019,000 after acquiring an additional 741,958 shares during the period. 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.