Short Interest in Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Decreases By 10.0%

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,250,000 shares, a decline of 10.0% from the November 30th total of 9,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,740,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Guardant Health Price Performance

NASDAQ:GH traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $30.55. The stock had a trading volume of 1,605,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,018,617. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.70, a quick ratio of 5.85 and a current ratio of 6.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of -7.21 and a beta of 1.26. Guardant Health has a 52 week low of $15.81 and a 52 week high of $38.53. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $30.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.38.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.55) by ($0.33). Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 1,200.44% and a negative net margin of 74.02%. The business had revenue of $191.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.49 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.73) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Guardant Health will post -3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 2,896 shares of the 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 directly owns 7,648 shares in the company, valued at approximately $228,675.20. This trade represents a 27.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $93,660. This represents a 46.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,432 shares of company stock worth $175,423. 5.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guardant Health

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Guardant Health by 188.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,127,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $232,325,000 after purchasing an additional 6,618,785 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $28,128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137,482 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Guardant Health by 233.5% in the 3rd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 1,512,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,701,000 after buying an additional 1,059,104 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the 3rd quarter valued at about $21,389,000. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter valued at about $15,624,000. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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