Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Trading Down 9.5% – Should You Sell?

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)’s share price dropped 9.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $36.00 and last traded at $35.58. Approximately 926,010 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 2,111,494 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.32.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GH. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Guardant Health from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Guardant Health from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, Guardant Health has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $48.40.

Guardant Health Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $42.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.07 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) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.75) by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $201.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $192.50 million. Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 19,157.20% and a negative net margin of 59.05%. On average, analysts predict that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was 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 represents a 46.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,668 shares of company stock worth $95,208. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GH. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 33.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 33,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $758,000 after acquiring an additional 8,346 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its position in shares of Guardant Health by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 74,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,702,000 after purchasing an additional 2,894 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Guardant Health by 1,282.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,226,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,128,000 after buying an additional 1,137,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP raised its holdings in Guardant Health by 23.9% in the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 19,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 3,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

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.