Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $124.00 and last traded at $121.79, with a volume of 235520 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $119.85.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on GH shares. Evercore set a $110.00 target price on Guardant Health in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Guardant Health from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Friday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on Guardant Health in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $120.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Guardant Health from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Guardant Health presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.53.

Guardant Health Trading Up 3.0%

The firm has a market cap of $16.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -36.43 and a beta of 1.48. The company’s 50-day moving average is $92.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.26.

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In related news, insider Chris Freeman sold 24,406 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider owned 60,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,124,234.78. This represents a 28.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 210,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.89, for a total value of $23,076,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,886,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,307,924.56. The trade was a 10.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 321,244 shares of company stock valued at $34,775,166. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 56.5% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 71,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,012,000 after purchasing an additional 25,831 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health in the 1st quarter worth about $274,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Guardant Health by 15.8% in the 2nd 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 increased its stake in Guardant Health by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 632,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,922,000 after buying an additional 54,284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Guardant Health by 56.4% in the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 111,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,800,000 after buying an additional 40,209 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

About Guardant Health

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.