Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Trading 7.4% Higher – Still a Buy?

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)’s stock price traded up 7.4% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $32.26 and last traded at $31.92. 1,674,351 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 19% from the average session volume of 2,066,458 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.73.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GH shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Guardant Health from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Guardant Health from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $28.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.60.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.70, a quick ratio of 5.85 and a current ratio of 6.22. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.33.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.88) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.55) by ($0.33). The business had revenue of $191.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.73) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -3.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In other news, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 2,896 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 7,648 shares in the company, valued at $228,675.20. This represents a 27.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $21,389,000. PDT Partners LLC boosted its position in Guardant Health by 51.8% during the third quarter. PDT Partners LLC now owns 219,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,036,000 after purchasing an additional 74,957 shares during the last quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC increased its position in Guardant Health by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 3,837,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,028,000 after purchasing an additional 76,762 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in Guardant Health by 220.6% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 37,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $863,000 after acquiring an additional 25,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Guardant Health by 6.8% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 28,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,844 shares in the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.