Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) shares gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $150.03, but opened at $160.76. Guardant Health shares last traded at $160.6090, with a volume of 846,171 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GH has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group set a $150.00 price objective on Guardant Health in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $150.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Piper Sandler set a $127.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, BTIG Research set a $160.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $144.82.

Guardant Health Trading Up 7.9%

The business has a fifty day moving average of $115.18 and a 200-day moving average of $104.71. The firm has a market cap of $21.46 billion, a PE ratio of -47.63 and a beta of 1.61.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael Brian Bell sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.62, for a total value of $257,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 47,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,110,607.58. This represents a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,012,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $254,231,669.70. This trade represents a 4.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 712,513 shares of company stock valued at $90,921,587. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the 3rd quarter valued at $114,421,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised 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 buying an additional 1,414,441 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the fourth quarter valued at $128,499,000. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Guardant Health by 674.5% during the fourth quarter. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC now owns 851,958 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,019,000 after buying an additional 741,958 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Guardant Health by 26.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,926,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $182,836,000 after buying an additional 606,368 shares in the last quarter. 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.