Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Short Interest Up 18.3% in May

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant 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. Based on an average daily volume of 2,220,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.1 days. Currently, 7.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Guardant Health Price Performance

Shares of GH traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $48.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,042,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,127,453. Guardant Health has a 12-month low of $20.14 and a 12-month high of $52.92. The stock has a market cap of $5.95 billion, a PE ratio of -13.50 and a beta of 1.37. The company's 50 day moving average is $42.93 and its 200 day moving average is $41.13.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported ($0.49) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.57) by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $203.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 business's revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.46) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Guardant Health will post -2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Guardant Health news, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 106,784 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.01, for a total transaction of $5,233,483.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,202,672 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $107,952,954.72. The trade was a 4.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 107,232 shares of company stock worth $5,252,559. 6.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Guardant Health by 63.6% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,658 shares of the company's stock worth $173,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Guardant Health during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Guardant Health by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,464,213 shares of the company's stock worth $44,732,000 after purchasing an additional 238,037 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Guardant Health during the fourth quarter worth $377,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Guardant Health by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,887 shares of the company's stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 929 shares in the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GH shares. Mizuho started coverage on Guardant Health in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Guardant Health from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. 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 note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Guardant Health from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus 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.