Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $38.53 and last traded at $37.87, with a volume of 1288721 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $35.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Leerink Partners lowered their target price on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Guardant Health from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup upped their target price on Guardant Health from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.60.

Guardant Health Stock Down 0.6 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.75 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 5.85, a current ratio of 6.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.70. The business’s 50-day moving average is $26.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.64.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.55) by ($0.33). Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 1,200.44% and a negative net margin of 74.02%. The business had revenue of $191.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.49 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.73) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -3.38 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 2,896 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total value of $86,590.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $228,675.20. This represents a 27.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GH. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 188.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,127,528 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,325,000 after acquiring an additional 6,618,785 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 1,282.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,226,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137,482 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 233.5% during the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 1,512,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,701,000 after buying an additional 1,059,104 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the third quarter valued at approximately $21,389,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 52.7% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,177,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,007,000 after buying an additional 406,500 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health, Inc, a precision oncology company, provides blood and tissue tests, data sets, and analytics in the United States and internationally. The company provides Guardant360; Guardant360 LDT; Guardant360 CDx Test; Guardant360 Response Test; Guardant360 TissueNext Test; GuardantINFINITY Test; GuardantConnect, an integrated software-based solution designed for clinical and biopharmaceutical customers to connect patients tested with assays with actionable alterations with potentially relevant clinical studies; GuardantOMNI Test for advanced stage cancer; and GuardantINFORM, an in-silico research platform for tumor evolution and treatment resistance across various biomarker-driven cancers.