Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Shares Up 9.8% – Here’s What Happened

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)’s stock price rose 9.8% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $39.77 and last traded at $39.34. Approximately 275,606 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 2,115,893 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GH shares. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $56.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Guardant Health from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Guardant Health from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $48.40.

Guardant Health Stock Down 2.5 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $42.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.68. The stock has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a PE ratio of -12.10 and a beta of 1.50.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.90) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.75) by ($0.15). Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 19,157.20% and a negative net margin of 59.05%. The company had revenue of $201.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $192.50 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $81,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,660. This represents a 46.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,668 shares of company stock worth $95,208. 5.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in Guardant Health during the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Guardant Health by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Guardant Health Company Profile

Guardant Health, Inc, a precision oncology company, provides blood and tissue tests, data sets, and analytics in the United States and internationally. The company provides Guardant360; Guardant360 LDT; Guardant360 CDx Test; Guardant360 Response Test; Guardant360 TissueNext Test; GuardantINFINITY Test; GuardantConnect, an integrated software-based solution designed for clinical and biopharmaceutical customers to connect patients tested with assays with actionable alterations with potentially relevant clinical studies; GuardantOMNI Test for advanced stage cancer; and GuardantINFORM, an in-silico research platform for tumor evolution and treatment resistance across various biomarker-driven cancers.