Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Sanford C. Bernstein

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) was upgraded by investment analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on GH. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday, June 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $185.00 target price for the company. 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 report on Monday, June 8th. Piper Sandler set a $127.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday, May 21st. UBS Group set a $150.00 price objective on Guardant Health in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BTIG Research set a $160.00 price target on Guardant Health and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $143.68.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

Shares of GH stock opened at $149.22 on Thursday. Guardant Health has a 1 year low of $40.35 and a 1 year high of $151.85. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $112.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.02. The firm has a market cap of $19.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.02 and a beta of 1.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.30, for a total value of $12,630,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,012,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $254,231,669.70. The trade was a 4.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Freeman sold 24,406 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.67, for a total value of $2,896,260.02. Following the sale, the insider owned 60,034 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,124,234.78. This trade represents a 28.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 452,513 shares of company stock valued at $51,608,916. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guardant Health

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GH. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Guardant Health by 19.5% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Eastern Bank boosted its holdings in Guardant Health by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 2,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial lifted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 33.1% in the first quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Xponance LLC grew its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Xponance LLC now owns 9,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $984,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S boosted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 1,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.