Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $116.00 and last traded at $115.5920, with a volume of 1139 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $114.87.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GH shares. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $63.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Barclays increased their target price on Guardant Health from $85.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Guardant Health from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Guardant Health from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Twenty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.81.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $14.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.77 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.44.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.39) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.48) by $0.09. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.88) earnings per share. Guardant Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In other news, CFO Michael Brian Bell sold 80,362 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.14, for a total value of $8,288,536.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 28,052 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,893,283.28. This trade represents a 74.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.05, for a total value of $10,505,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 168,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,671,826.15. The trade was a 37.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 436,552 shares of company stock valued at $45,622,836 in the last three months. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its stake in Guardant Health by 6.6% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,127,692 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,378,000 after buying an additional 317,906 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 27.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,558,501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $185,184,000 after acquiring an additional 763,834 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Guardant Health by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,926,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,836,000 after acquiring an additional 606,368 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Guardant Health by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,920,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $152,014,000 after acquiring an additional 13,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Guardant Health by 100.4% during the second quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 2,823,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,935,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414,381 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by 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.