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

Key Points

• Short interest rose 19.6% in March to 13,696,676 shares, equal to about 11.1% of the stock and a short-interest ratio of 7.5 days based on average daily volume.
• Insiders have been net sellers recently—17,167 shares sold worth roughly $1.75 million in the last 90 days (including CFO Michael Bell's 3,000-share sale)—and insiders now own 6.10% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish with a consensus "Moderate Buy" (20 Buys, 1 Hold, 1 Sell) and a $125.20 average price target, while shares trade around $90 despite negative EPS and 39.4% year-over-year revenue growth.

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 13,696,676 shares, an increase of 19.6% from the March 15th total of 11,452,421 shares. Approximately 11.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,830,219 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.5 days.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In related news, CFO Michael Brian Bell sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.04, for a total value of $261,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 43,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,795,031.04. This represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Medina Manuel Hidalgo sold 1,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.54, for a total transaction of $119,002.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,193 shares in the company, valued at approximately $109,207.22. This trade represents a 52.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 17,167 shares of company stock valued at $1,753,633 in the last ninety days. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 30.5% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 22,244 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,055,000 after purchasing an additional 5,197 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 8,451 shares of the company's stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 2,743 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 135.2% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 11,618 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 6,678 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,664,000. Finally, Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $155,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. BTIG Research increased their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Evercore set a $110.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $125.20.

Guardant Health Price Performance

NASDAQ GH traded up $4.66 on Friday, reaching $90.36. 2,540,972 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,080,464. Guardant Health has a 12 month low of $36.36 and a 12 month high of $120.74. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.39. The stock has a market cap of $11.85 billion, a PE ratio of -27.30 and a beta of 1.64.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.50) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.43) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $281.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.62) EPS. Guardant Health's revenue was up 39.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Guardant Health will post -2.9 EPS for the current year.

About Guardant Health

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.

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