Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Short Interest Up 18.4% in August

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) saw a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,120,000 shares, a growth of 18.4% from the August 15th total of 9,390,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,060,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Guardant Health

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Guardant Health by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 1,240 shares in the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC raised its position in Guardant Health by 8.5% during the first quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 18,540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Guardant Health during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 41,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the 2nd quarter valued at about $59,000. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their target price on Guardant Health from $28.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Guardant Health from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Craig Hallum boosted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.31.

Guardant Health Price Performance

NASDAQ:GH traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $25.09. 2,584,666 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,120,633. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.92. The company has a quick ratio of 6.07, a current ratio of 6.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.70. The company has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a PE ratio of -6.46 and a beta of 1.11. Guardant Health has a 12-month low of $15.81 and a 12-month high of $37.04.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.84) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.74) by ($0.10). Guardant Health had a negative net margin of 76.23% and a negative return on equity of 418.21%. The firm had revenue of $177.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $162.59 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.67) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Guardant Health will post -3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.