Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Trading 6.4% Higher – Here’s Why

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)’s stock price traded up 6.4% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $47.68 and last traded at $48.01. 1,011,909 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 2,393,260 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.13.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GH. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Guardant Health from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Leerink Partners dropped their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.81.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $5.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.13 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.39.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.88) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.55) by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $191.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.49 million. Guardant Health had a negative net margin of 74.02% and a negative return on equity of 1,200.44%. Guardant Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.73) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Guardant Health news, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 2,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total value of $86,590.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,648 shares in the company, valued at $228,675.20. The trade was a 27.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $81,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,660. This trade represents a 46.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,548 shares of company stock worth $179,782 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GH. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Guardant Health by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 26,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $800,000 after purchasing an additional 2,537 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Guardant Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Guardant Health by 63.6% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $173,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the 4th quarter valued at $252,000. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 11,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $363,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. 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.