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

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,840,000 shares, an increase of 35.9% from the January 31st total of 5,770,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,130,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Guardant Health Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GH opened at $42.66 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.19. Guardant Health has a twelve month low of $15.81 and a twelve month high of $50.89. The company has a market capitalization of $5.27 billion, a PE ratio of -11.98 and a beta of 1.50.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.90) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.75) by ($0.15). Guardant Health had a negative net margin of 59.05% and a negative return on equity of 19,157.20%. The business had revenue of $201.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $192.50 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Guardant Health will post -2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $81,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,676 shares in the company, valued at $93,660. This trade represents a 46.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 2,668 shares of company stock worth $95,208 over the last three months. Insiders own 5.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. increased its stake in Guardant Health by 1,902.2% in the 4th quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 454,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,885,000 after buying an additional 431,800 shares during the period. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at $79,000. Twinbeech Capital LP acquired a new position in Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at $367,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in Guardant Health by 96.7% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,315,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,742,000 after buying an additional 1,138,300 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in Guardant Health by 38.5% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,890,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,761,000 after buying an additional 525,368 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GH shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $56.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $59.00 price target (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Guardant Health presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.21.

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.