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

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,560,000 shares, a growth of 25.1% from the March 31st total of 7,640,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,990,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.8 days.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

Shares of GH traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $18.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,168,510 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,865,512. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of -4.21 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.18, a current ratio of 6.54 and a quick ratio of 6.24. Guardant Health has a 12 month low of $15.81 and a 12 month high of $41.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $18.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.75.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($1.58) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.93) by ($0.65). Guardant Health had a negative net margin of 85.02% and a negative return on equity of 301.94%. The business had revenue of $155.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.71 million. Analysts anticipate that Guardant Health will post -3.49 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. Craig Hallum assumed coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on Guardant Health from $45.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Guardant Health from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Friday, April 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.91.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, insider Kumud Kalia acquired 2,187 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $17.82 per share, for a total transaction of $38,972.34. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 12,722 shares in the company, valued at $226,706.04. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GH. Baillie Gifford & Co. bought a new position in Guardant Health in the 4th quarter worth $167,137,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,001,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074,452 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth about $25,520,000. Cadian Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the fourth quarter worth about $19,206,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Guardant Health by 27.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,890,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,046,000 after purchasing an additional 403,475 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.