Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on GH. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Guggenheim cut Guardant Health from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Guardant Health from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Guardant Health in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $127.00 price objective on Guardant Health in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $137.80.

Guardant Health Stock Down 5.6%

Guardant Health stock opened at $125.61 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -37.05 and a beta of 1.61. Guardant Health has a twelve month low of $40.35 and a twelve month high of $134.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $99.39 and its 200 day moving average is $101.08.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.98, for a total transaction of $1,269,800.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,017.34. This represents a 47.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John G. Saia sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.51, for a total value of $2,130,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 45,950 shares in the company, valued at $4,894,134.50. The trade was a 30.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 350,238 shares of company stock worth $38,538,372. Insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guardant Health

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 19.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Eastern Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 2,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $221,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial lifted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 33.1% during the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Xponance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Xponance LLC now owns 9,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $984,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S lifted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 1,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.