Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Shares Up 7.3% on Analyst Upgrade

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) shares were up 7.3% during trading on Wednesday after Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $38.00. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Guardant Health traded as high as $30.23 and last traded at $30.04. Approximately 1,585,702 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 23% from the average daily volume of 2,051,672 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.99.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $45.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $44.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Guardant Health from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $36.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Kumud Kalia purchased 2,187 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $17.82 per share, for a total transaction of $38,972.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,722 shares in the company, valued at $226,706.04. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new position in Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth approximately $167,137,000. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,001,803 shares of the company's stock valued at $108,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074,452 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at $25,520,000. Cadian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at $19,206,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new position in Guardant Health during the first quarter worth $8,300,000. 92.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Guardant Health Trading Up 11.4 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.36. The company has a market capitalization of $3.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.76 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.70, a current ratio of 5.95 and a quick ratio of 5.66.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported ($0.94) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.94). Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 246.47% and a negative net margin of 76.34%. The company had revenue of $168.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $150.51 million. On average, analysts forecast that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -3.37 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.