Brokerages Set Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Target Price at $40.60

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.60.

GH has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Craig Hallum increased their price target on Guardant Health from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Leerink Partners reduced their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on Guardant Health from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on Guardant Health from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

Guardant Health Price Performance

GH opened at $32.65 on Thursday. Guardant Health has a 1 year low of $15.81 and a 1 year high of $37.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.70, a current ratio of 6.22 and a quick ratio of 5.85. The company has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.70 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $24.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.83.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $191.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.49 million. Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 1,200.44% and a negative net margin of 74.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.73) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Guardant Health will post -3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 2,896 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total transaction of $86,590.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,648 shares in the company, valued at $228,675.20. This trade represents a 27.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 5.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GH. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in Guardant Health by 254.0% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 114,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after purchasing an additional 81,887 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 1,282.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,226,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,128,000 after buying an additional 1,137,482 shares during the period. First Light Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 119.7% during the second quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 416,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,042,000 after buying an additional 227,202 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 2,193.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 10,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,340,000 after acquiring an additional 9,763 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. purchased a new stake in Guardant Health in the second quarter worth $831,000. Institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Guardant Health Company Profile

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.