Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Reaches New 1-Year Low After Analyst Downgrade

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday after The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on the stock from $32.00 to $28.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Guardant Health traded as low as $16.28 and last traded at $16.36, with a volume of 170032 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.06.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $60.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Guardant Health presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Kumud Kalia purchased 2,187 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $17.82 per share, with a total value of $38,972.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,706.04. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 6.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GH. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,130,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $301,084,000 after purchasing an additional 180,424 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 834,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,562,000 after purchasing an additional 161,986 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the fourth quarter valued at $233,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health in the fourth quarter valued at $3,868,000. Finally, Eventide Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 3,888,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,174,000 after purchasing an additional 298,616 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Guardant Health Stock Down 5.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of -3.78 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $19.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.45. The company has a quick ratio of 6.24, a current ratio of 6.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.18.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($1.58) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.93) by ($0.65). The firm had revenue of $155.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.71 million. Guardant Health had a negative net margin of 85.02% and a negative return on equity of 301.94%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.