Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Hits New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $135.00 to $190.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Guardant Health traded as high as $174.08 and last traded at $168.9990, with a volume of 168928 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.98.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $135.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Friday, June 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $160.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Musa Tariq sold 1,951 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.16, for a total value of $255,893.16. Following the sale, the director directly owned 11,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,449,055.68. This represents a 15.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Myrtle S. Potter sold 1,556 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.16, for a total value of $204,084.96. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,750,556.36. The trade was a 6.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 sold 708,681 shares of company stock valued at $90,566,438. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $114,421,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Guardant Health by 33.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,636,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414,441 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Guardant Health during the 4th quarter valued at $128,499,000. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 674.5% in the 4th quarter. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC now owns 851,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,019,000 after purchasing an additional 741,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Guardant Health Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $22.51 billion, a PE ratio of -50.22 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $119.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.12.

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.