Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Wolfe Research

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wolfe Research to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Guardant Health from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Guggenheim lowered Guardant Health from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $129.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday, May 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $136.37.

Guardant Health Stock Up 0.8%

GH stock opened at $130.17 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.26 billion, a PE ratio of -38.40 and a beta of 1.61. Guardant Health has a twelve month low of $40.35 and a twelve month high of $133.97. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.18.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In other news, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 210,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.89, for a total transaction of $23,076,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,886,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,307,924.56. The trade was a 10.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Terilyn J. Monroe sold 3,832 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.68, for a total value of $355,149.76. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,945,353.20. The trade was a 15.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 332,244 shares of company stock valued at $36,156,026 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GH. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 56.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 71,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,012,000 after purchasing an additional 25,831 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the first quarter worth about $274,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 15.8% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 77,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,023,000 after purchasing an additional 10,538 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 9.4% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 632,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,922,000 after purchasing an additional 54,284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 56.4% during the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 111,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,800,000 after purchasing an additional 40,209 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

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.