Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $116.00 and last traded at $115.5920, with a volume of 1139 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $114.87.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on GH. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Leerink Partners raised their price target on Guardant Health from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Guardant Health from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Guardant Health from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Twenty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.81.

Guardant Health Stock Down 2.4%

The company has a market capitalization of $14.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.77 and a beta of 1.58. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $104.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.44.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 90,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.82, for a total value of $9,402,458.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,047,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,534,386.26. This trade represents a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Medina Manuel Hidalgo sold 1,250 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $131,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 797 shares in the company, valued at $83,685. The trade was a 61.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 436,552 shares of company stock valued at $45,622,836 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guardant Health

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Chesapeake Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. First Pacific Financial bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 120.1% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 612 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. 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.