Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Stock Rating Upgraded by Roth Capital

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) was upgraded by equities researchers at Roth Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, Zacks reports.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on GH. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Guardant Health from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $175.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $190.40.

Guardant Health Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of GH stock opened at $169.08 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -48.45 and a beta of 1.58. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $141.69. Guardant Health has a 1 year low of $68.02 and a 1 year high of $191.05.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.76) by $0.34. The company had revenue of $334.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $314.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.44) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 44.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Guardant Health will post -3.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ian T. Clark sold 14,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.92, for a total transaction of $2,253,485.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,975 shares in the company, valued at $472,787. This represents a 82.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chris Freeman sold 63,605 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.58, for a total value of $10,786,135.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 65,374 shares in the company, valued at $11,086,122.92. This trade represents a 49.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 178,940 shares of company stock worth $30,070,911. 5.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GH. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Guardant Health during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $208,592,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $196,737,000. First Light Asset Management LLC increased its position in Guardant Health by 57.5% in the 2nd quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 441,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,251,000 after acquiring an additional 161,287 shares during the period. Orbimed Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Guardant Health in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,199,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 30.2% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 341,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,499,000 after acquiring an additional 79,071 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Guardant Health Company Profile

Guardant Health, Inc (NASDAQ:GH) is a precision oncology company that develops blood-based tests and data solutions designed to help detect cancer, guide treatment decisions and monitor patients over time. Its technologies analyze circulating tumor DNA and other molecular information from blood samples, supporting more accessible and less invasive alternatives to some tissue-based testing approaches.

The company’s products include Guardant360, which helps identify genomic alterations in advanced cancers and may inform targeted treatment selection; Guardant360 Response, designed to assess a patient’s response to therapy; and Guardant Reveal, which is used to detect minimal residual disease and recurrence risk in certain cancers.