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

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during trading 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 traded. The stock had previously closed at $17.06.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on GH. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on 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. lowered their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $60.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Friday, April 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.40.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In related news, insider Kumud Kalia bought 2,187 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $17.82 per share, for a total transaction of $38,972.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $226,706.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 6.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GH. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 137.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 984 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in Guardant Health by 33.2% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the 1st quarter valued at about $89,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the first quarter worth about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $19.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.40. The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.83 and a beta of 0.87. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($1.58) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.93) by ($0.65). Guardant Health had a negative return on equity of 301.94% and a negative net margin of 85.02%. The company had revenue of $155.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $151.71 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Guardant Health, Inc. will post -3.49 earnings per share 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.