Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Shares Down 5.7% – Should You Sell?

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) fell 5.7% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $47.38 and last traded at $47.11. 1,390,392 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 2,542,415 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.94.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on GH. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $36.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Leerink Partners reduced their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Guardant Health from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 target price for the company. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $42.63.

Guardant Health Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.04 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $36.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.06.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.88) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.55) by ($0.33). Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 1,200.44% and a negative net margin of 74.02%. The company had revenue of $191.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.49 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.73) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 33.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -3.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Guardant Health news, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 2,896 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total transaction of $86,590.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $228,675.20. The trade was a 27.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $81,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,660. This represents a 46.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,548 shares of company stock valued at $179,782. 5.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 21.8% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,449 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its position in shares of Guardant Health by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 11,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Guardant Health in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Guardant Health by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JNBA Financial Advisors bought a new position in Guardant Health in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.