Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Sanford C. Bernstein

Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

GH has been the topic of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Guardant Health in a report on Friday, June 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $165.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $150.00 target price for the company. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Guardant Health from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $143.68.

Guardant Health Trading Up 4.4%

GH opened at $149.22 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $112.62 and its 200-day moving average is $104.02. The stock has a market cap of $19.79 billion, a PE ratio of -44.02 and a beta of 1.61. Guardant Health has a twelve month low of $40.35 and a twelve month high of $151.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.30, for a total transaction of $12,630,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,012,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $254,231,669.70. This trade represents a 4.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Freeman sold 24,406 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.67, for a total transaction of $2,896,260.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 60,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,124,234.78. This trade represents a 28.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 452,513 shares of company stock worth $51,608,916. 5.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter valued at $114,421,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Guardant Health by 33.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,414,441 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $128,499,000. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Guardant Health by 674.5% in the 4th quarter. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC now owns 851,958 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,019,000 after purchasing an additional 741,958 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Guardant Health by 26.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,926,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $182,836,000 after purchasing an additional 606,368 shares in the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.