Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH)

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 5,660 call options on the company. This is an increase of 175% compared to the average daily volume of 2,057 call options.

Guardant Health Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ GH opened at $17.34 on Wednesday. Guardant Health has a 1 year low of $15.81 and a 1 year high of $41.06. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.05 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.18, a quick ratio of 6.24 and a current ratio of 6.54. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.11.

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($1.58) earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $155.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.71 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Guardant Health will post -3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In related news, insider Kumud Kalia acquired 2,187 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $17.82 per share, with a total value of $38,972.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $226,706.04. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Guardant Health by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,950,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $324,565,000 after buying an additional 146,902 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Guardant Health by 2.9% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 568,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,840,000 after buying an additional 16,111 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in Guardant Health in the third quarter valued at about $1,689,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in Guardant Health by 5.8% in the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 159,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,732,000 after buying an additional 8,688 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Guardant Health by 31.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,211,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,909,000 after buying an additional 292,888 shares during the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Guardant Health from $60.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on Guardant Health from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Guardant Health from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Guardant Health from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.40.

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.