Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Robert W. Baird

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) was upgraded by research analysts at Robert W. Baird to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Guardant Health from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Leerink Partners upped their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $115.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.45.

Guardant Health Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ GH opened at $107.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $13.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.37 and a beta of 1.63. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $106.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.23. Guardant Health has a fifty-two week low of $34.88 and a fifty-two week high of $120.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.05, for a total transaction of $10,505,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 168,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,671,826.15. The trade was a 37.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Medina Manuel Hidalgo sold 1,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $131,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,685. This trade represents a 61.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 434,511 shares of company stock valued at $45,580,887 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in Guardant Health during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Chesapeake Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Guardant Health in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 120.1% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 612 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the period. Finally, Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by 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.