Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Short Interest Update

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,120,000 shares, a growth of 18.3% from the April 30th total of 7,710,000 shares. Approximately 7.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,220,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

Shares of Guardant Health stock traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $47.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,259,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,122,955. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $42.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.87. The company has a market capitalization of $5.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.47 and a beta of 1.49. Guardant Health has a one year low of $20.14 and a one year high of $52.92.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.49) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $203.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.91 million. Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 19,157.20% and a negative net margin of 59.05%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.46) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Guardant Health will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In related news, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 106,784 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.01, for a total transaction of $5,233,483.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,202,672 shares of the company's stock, valued at $107,952,954.72. This trade represents a 4.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 107,232 shares of company stock valued at $5,252,559. Corporate insiders own 6.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Guardant Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Guardant Health in the 1st quarter worth about $54,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Guardant Health by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,929 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $56.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Guardant Health from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho started coverage on Guardant Health in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Guardant Health from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Guardant Health presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $53.29.

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.