Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $32.00 to $36.00. The stock had previously closed at $25.29, but opened at $32.39. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Guardant Health shares last traded at $30.44, with a volume of 1,366,838 shares.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Craig Hallum boosted their target price on Guardant Health from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on Guardant Health from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America raised their price target on Guardant Health from $28.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Guardant Health from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.24.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Guardant Health by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,436,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $235,925,000 after acquiring an additional 305,372 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its position in Guardant Health by 233.5% during the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 1,512,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,701,000 after buying an additional 1,059,104 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Guardant Health by 31.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,280,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,973,000 after acquiring an additional 309,157 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Guardant Health by 1,282.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,226,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,137,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Railway Pension Investments Ltd boosted its stake in Guardant Health by 63.8% in the second quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 620,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,931,000 after acquiring an additional 241,800 shares during the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.70, a quick ratio of 6.07 and a current ratio of 6.40. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $23.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.88. The company has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a PE ratio of -7.08 and a beta of 1.11.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.84) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.74) by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $177.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $162.59 million. Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 418.21% and a negative net margin of 76.23%. The company’s revenue was up 29.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.67) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -3.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Guardant Health

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.