Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Raised to Moderate Buy at Royal Bank Of Canada

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) was upgraded by equities researchers at Royal Bank Of Canada to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Leerink Partners increased their price objective on Guardant Health from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on Guardant Health from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Guardant Health in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird started coverage on Guardant Health in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.95.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

GH opened at $131.62 on Thursday. Guardant Health has a one year low of $40.35 and a one year high of $134.28. The company has a market cap of $17.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -38.83 and a beta of 1.61. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $103.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.14.

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In related news, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.98, for a total value of $1,269,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Michael Brian Bell sold 2,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 47,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,110,607.58. This trade represents a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 452,238 shares of company stock worth $51,425,612. Insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GH. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 56.5% in the 1st 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 period. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 1st quarter valued at about $274,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 15.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 77,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,023,000 after purchasing an additional 10,538 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 54,284 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Guardant Health by 56.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 40,209 shares during the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Guardant Health Company Profile

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.