Canaccord Genuity Group Issues Positive Forecast for Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Stock Price

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) had its target price upped by equities researchers at Canaccord Genuity Group from $100.00 to $125.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 25.33% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on GH. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $85.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $80.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.71.

Guardant Health Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ GH opened at $99.74 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $12.57 billion, a PE ratio of -31.07 and a beta of 1.58. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.69. Guardant Health has a 12-month low of $29.91 and a 12-month high of $112.43.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.39) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by $0.09. Guardant Health’s quarterly revenue was up 38.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.88) EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Guardant Health will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ian T. Clark sold 28,611 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.19, for a total transaction of $3,066,813.09. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,055,928.69. This trade represents a 74.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 100,000 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.05, for a total value of $10,505,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 168,223 shares in the company, valued at $17,671,826.15. This trade represents a 37.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 426,663 shares of company stock worth $44,508,069 in the last ninety days. 6.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GH. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Guardant Health by 37.3% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 60,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,564,000 after purchasing an additional 16,363 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 147.3% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 50,519 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,629,000 after buying an additional 30,094 shares in the last quarter. Yorktown Management & Research Co Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the second quarter worth about $289,000. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the second quarter valued at approximately $567,000. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Guardant Health during the first quarter valued at approximately $12,634,000. 92.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.