Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.07 EPS

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported ($0.50) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.43) by ($0.07), FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $281.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.74 million.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

GH traded down $1.04 on Thursday, hitting $106.38. 1,612,284 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,022,701. The company has a market cap of $13.41 billion, a PE ratio of -33.14 and a beta of 1.63. Guardant Health has a 12 month low of $34.88 and a 12 month high of $120.74. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $106.57 and its 200-day moving average is $85.39.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Guardant Health news, CTO Darya Chudova sold 5,451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.04, for a total transaction of $567,122.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 7,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,528.48. This trade represents a 43.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Amirali Talasaz sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.05, for a total transaction of $10,505,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 168,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,671,826.15. This represents a 37.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 434,511 shares of company stock worth $45,580,887 in the last quarter. 6.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GH. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Guardant Health by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 352 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. EFG International AG bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Guardant Health in the fourth quarter valued at about $56,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Guardant Health in the fourth quarter valued at about $60,000. Finally, Arax Advisory Partners lifted its position in Guardant Health by 61.5% during the fourth quarter. Arax Advisory Partners now owns 733 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $100.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $60.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Guardant Health from $85.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.45.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health, Inc is a precision oncology company specializing in blood-based cancer diagnostics. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Redwood City, California, the company develops non-invasive tests that use circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to profile genomic alterations in patients with solid tumors. Guardant Health’s mission is to advance cancer care by providing actionable data to clinicians, pharmaceutical partners and researchers worldwide.

The company’s flagship product, Guardant360, is a next-generation sequencing (NGS) assay designed to detect mutations, copy number variations and select fusions in more than 70 cancer-related genes.