Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Shares Down 7% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Guardant Health shares fell about 7% intraday to $81.11 on Friday, with roughly 629,648 shares trading (about 68% below average), valuing the company near $9.94 billion.
• Analysts remain largely bullish—20 Buys, 1 Hold and 1 Sell—giving a consensus "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $125.95, with recent targets raised up to $150 by Citi and $135 by several firms.
• Guardant missed on EPS (‑$0.50 vs. ‑$0.43 est.) but beat revenue at $281.3M (+39.4% YoY); insiders have sold shares recently (≈17,051 shares worth $1.74M) and analysts project a full-year EPS of ‑2.9.

Shares of Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) were down 7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $82.56 and last traded at $81.1090. Approximately 629,648 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 1,971,797 shares. The stock had previously closed at $87.17.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GH. Mizuho set a $135.00 price target on Guardant Health in a report on Friday, January 9th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Guardant Health from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Guardant Health from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Guardant Health from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $125.95.

Guardant Health Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $9.94 billion, a PE ratio of -22.74 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a 50-day moving average of $95.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $93.35.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Guardant Health news, Director Medina Manuel Hidalgo sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.54, for a total value of $119,002.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,193 shares in the company, valued at approximately $109,207.22. This represents a 52.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Terilyn J. Monroe sold 3,832 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.68, for a total value of $355,149.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 20,990 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,945,353.20. The trade was a 15.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,051 shares of company stock worth $1,743,792. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Chesapeake Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 164.7% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 352 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company's stock.

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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