Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after TD Cowen raised their price target on the stock from $63.00 to $72.00. The stock had previously closed at $57.67, but opened at $59.37. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the stock. Guardant Health shares last traded at $62.30, with a volume of 670,238 shares trading hands.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Guardant Health from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $73.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Thursday. BTIG Research set a $80.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.75.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In related news, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.88, for a total transaction of $5,088,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,971,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,326,710.40. The trade was a 4.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 300,000 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.45, for a total transaction of $17,835,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,123,499 shares in the company, valued at $126,242,015.55. This represents a 12.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 402,691 shares of company stock worth $23,069,965. 6.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guardant Health

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in Guardant Health during the first quarter valued at approximately $232,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 37.3% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 60,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,564,000 after buying an additional 16,363 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the first quarter worth $866,000. Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the first quarter worth $279,000. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the first quarter worth $442,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Guardant Health Stock Up 4.4%

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $55.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.72. The stock has a market cap of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of -17.96 and a beta of 1.46.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.44) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.52) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $232.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.19 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.84) EPS. Guardant Health’s quarterly revenue was up 31.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Guardant Health has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.