Short Interest in Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) Drops By 21.6%

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,770,000 shares, a decrease of 21.6% from the January 15th total of 7,360,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,160,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Guardant Health news, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of Guardant Health 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 owns 2,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at $93,660. The trade was a 46.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 2,652 shares of company stock worth $93,192 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 5.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Guardant Health

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. JNBA Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Guardant Health in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Guardant Health during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Guardant Health during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Guardant Health during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in Guardant Health during the 4th quarter worth $58,000. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GH shares. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Guardant Health from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays started coverage on Guardant Health in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Guardant Health from $36.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.63.

Guardant Health Price Performance

Shares of GH traded up $0.73 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $49.00. The stock had a trading volume of 2,403,810 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,450,339. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $39.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.39. The company has a market cap of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.56 and a beta of 1.32. Guardant Health has a 1-year low of $15.81 and a 1-year high of $50.89.

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.