Investors Buy High Volume of Guardant Health Put Options (NASDAQ:GH)

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders acquired 4,283 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 311% compared to the average daily volume of 1,043 put options.

Guardant Health Trading Down 4.2%

GH stock opened at $161.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.67 billion, a PE ratio of -46.27 and a beta of 1.60. Guardant Health has a 12-month low of $53.40 and a 12-month high of $176.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $157.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.75.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.76) by $0.34. The company had revenue of $334.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $314.23 million. Guardant Health’s revenue was up 44.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.44) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Guardant Health will post -2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on GH. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $150.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens boosted their price target on Guardant Health from $170.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Monday, July 6th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Guardant Health from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Guardant Health presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $183.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Guardant Health news, Director Ian T. Clark sold 14,180 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.92, for a total value of $2,253,485.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $472,787. The trade was a 82.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Medina Manuel Hidalgo sold 1,700 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.24, for a total transaction of $279,208.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,556 shares in the company, valued at approximately $748,277.44. The trade was a 27.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 548,318 shares of company stock valued at $82,501,873 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GH. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Guardant Health by 56.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 71,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,012,000 after purchasing an additional 25,831 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the 1st quarter valued at $274,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 15.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 77,308 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,023,000 after buying an additional 10,538 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake 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 worth $32,922,000 after buying an additional 54,284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 56.4% in the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 111,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,800,000 after buying an additional 40,209 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

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.