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

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) released its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share (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 Trading Down 1.0%

GH stock traded down $1.04 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $106.38. 1,619,289 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,040,548. Guardant Health has a 12 month low of $34.88 and a 12 month high of $120.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.14 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $106.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.39.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho set a $135.00 price target on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Guardant Health from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Guardant Health from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Guardant Health from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Guardant Health from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Twenty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Guardant Health news, insider Terilyn J. Monroe sold 55,167 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.97, for a total transaction of $5,846,046.99. Following the transaction, the insider owned 20,920 shares in the company, valued at $2,216,892.40. This represents a 72.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 90,565 shares of Guardant Health stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.82, for a total transaction of $9,402,458.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,047,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,534,386.26. The trade was a 4.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 434,511 shares of company stock valued at $45,580,887 in the last three months. Insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Xponance LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Guardant Health by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Xponance LLC now owns 9,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $984,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Guardant Health by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 3,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $397,000 after buying an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Arax Advisory Partners grew its position in Guardant Health by 61.5% in the fourth quarter. Arax Advisory Partners now owns 733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in Guardant Health by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,546 shares of the company’s stock worth $669,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Guardant Health Company Profile

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.