Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Stock Price Down 7.6% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Guardant Health shares fell 7.6% during trading, reaching a low of $41.42, with a total of approximately 1.6 million shares traded—a significant drop from the average daily volume.
• Despite the recent decline, multiple research firms have raised their price targets for Guardant Health, with an average consensus price target now at $54.95 and a majority of analysts rating it as a "Buy."
• In the recent quarter, Guardant Health reported a revenue increase of 20.8% year-over-year, achieving $203.47 million and beating analyst revenue estimates, although it still posted a negative EPS of -$0.49.

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) shares fell 7.6% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $41.42 and last traded at $41.76. 1,597,109 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 2,258,847 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.19.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GH shares. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $54.95.

Guardant Health Stock Up 1.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.58 and a beta of 1.43. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $47.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.00.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.52) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $232.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.19 million. The company's revenue was up 31.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.84) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Guardant Health

In other news, Director Myrtle S. Potter sold 2,626 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.70, for a total value of $130,512.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $903,546. The trade was a 12.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Musa Tariq sold 3,213 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.47, for a total transaction of $158,947.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $355,689.30. The trade was a 30.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 235,516 shares of company stock worth $11,848,754. Corporate insiders own 6.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 50.5% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 635 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,929 shares of the company's stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 0.3% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 104,206 shares of the company's stock worth $4,439,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 120.1% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 612 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 12,346 shares of the company's stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 391 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.