Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $150.03, but opened at $160.76. Guardant Health shares last traded at $160.6090, with a volume of 846,171 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GH shares. BTIG Research set a $160.00 price target on Guardant Health and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Guardant Health in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Friday, June 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $175.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $144.82.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $115.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $104.71. The stock has a market cap of $21.46 billion, a PE ratio of -47.63 and a beta of 1.61.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.30, for a total value of $12,630,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,012,919 shares in the company, valued at $254,231,669.70. This represents a 4.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Musa Tariq sold 1,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.16, for a total value of $255,893.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,449,055.68. This trade represents a 15.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 712,513 shares of company stock valued at $90,921,587 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guardant Health

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in Guardant Health during the third quarter worth about $114,421,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in 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 valued at $575,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414,441 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth $128,499,000. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 674.5% in the fourth quarter. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC now owns 851,958 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,019,000 after buying an additional 741,958 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 26.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,926,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $182,836,000 after buying an additional 606,368 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Guardant Health Company Profile

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.