Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Shares Up 7.6% – Time to Buy?

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) traded up 7.6% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $36.57 and last traded at $36.32. 530,169 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average session volume of 1,219,949 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.76.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GH has been the subject of a number of research reports. Leerink Partners dropped their target price on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Guardant Health from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $40.60.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.44 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.41. The company has a current ratio of 6.22, a quick ratio of 5.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.70.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.55) by ($0.33). Guardant Health had a negative net margin of 74.02% and a negative return on equity of 1,200.44%. The company had revenue of $191.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.73) EPS. Guardant Health’s quarterly revenue was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guardant Health

In related news, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $81,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,676 shares in the company, valued at $93,660. This represents a 46.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 2,896 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total value of $86,590.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,648 shares in the company, valued at $228,675.20. The trade was a 27.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,432 shares of company stock worth $175,423. 5.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guardant Health

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $15,624,000. Exome Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Guardant Health by 13.7% during the third quarter. Exome Asset Management LLC now owns 89,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,060,000 after buying an additional 10,800 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,822,220 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,754,000 after buying an additional 29,686 shares in the last quarter. Pier Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 36.7% in the third quarter. Pier Capital LLC now owns 158,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,634,000 after buying an additional 42,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 188.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,127,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $232,325,000 after acquiring an additional 6,618,785 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

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.