Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,790,000 shares, a decline of 5.6% from the December 15th total of 8,250,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,810,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days.

Guardant Health Stock Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ:GH opened at $36.66 on Friday. Guardant Health has a 12-month low of $15.81 and a 12-month high of $39.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.65 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $33.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.95.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.55) by ($0.33). The business had revenue of $191.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.49 million. Guardant Health had a negative net margin of 74.02% and a negative return on equity of 1,200.44%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.73) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Guardant Health will post -3.44 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $81,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,676 shares in the company, valued at $93,660. This represents a 46.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 2,896 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total transaction of $86,590.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,648 shares in the company, valued at approximately $228,675.20. The trade was a 27.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,432 shares of company stock worth $175,423. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JNBA Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the third quarter worth $34,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the second quarter valued at about $44,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Guardant Health during the second quarter worth about $71,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Guardant Health by 168.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 2,153 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GH. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Guardant Health from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Leerink Partners lowered their target price on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $40.60.

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.