Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Coverage Initiated at Robert W. Baird

Analysts at Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird’s target price points to a potential upside of 11.71% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on GH. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Guardant Health from $100.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Barclays increased their target price on Guardant Health from $85.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Mizuho set a $135.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.45.

Guardant Health Price Performance

NASDAQ:GH opened at $107.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.46 and a beta of 1.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.39. Guardant Health has a 1 year low of $34.88 and a 1 year high of $120.74.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In other news, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.05, for a total transaction of $10,505,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 168,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,671,826.15. This represents a 37.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Darya Chudova sold 5,451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.04, for a total value of $567,122.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 7,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,528.48. The trade was a 43.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 434,511 shares of company stock valued at $45,580,887 in the last quarter. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Guardant Health by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,160,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,242,101,000 after purchasing an additional 251,939 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 33.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,636,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $575,670,000 after buying an additional 1,414,441 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 27.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,558,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,184,000 after buying an additional 763,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Guardant Health by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,361,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $343,348,000 after acquiring an additional 435,232 shares during the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Guardant Health

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.