Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Trading Down 5.7% – Here’s What Happened

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)’s share price dropped 5.7% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $47.38 and last traded at $47.11. Approximately 1,390,392 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 45% from the average daily volume of 2,542,415 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.94.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on GH shares. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Guardant Health from $36.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Leerink Partners decreased their price objective on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on Guardant Health in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Guardant Health has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $42.63.

Guardant Health Trading Down 6.2 %

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $36.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.06. The company has a market capitalization of $5.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.04 and a beta of 1.28.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.88) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.55) by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $191.48 million during 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%. Guardant Health’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.73) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -3.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Guardant Health news, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 2,896 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total value of $86,590.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $228,675.20. The trade was a 27.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 2,676 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,660. This trade represents a 46.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,548 shares of company stock valued at $179,782. 5.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sei Investments Co. acquired a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the 2nd quarter worth $831,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans acquired a new position in Guardant Health during the second quarter worth about $1,307,000. Xponance Inc. bought a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the second quarter worth about $216,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, Creative Planning bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $593,000. Institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

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.