Insider Selling: GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) CEO Sells $425,100.00 in Stock

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL) CEO Joshua Ofman sold 5,000 shares of GRAIL stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.02, for a total value of $425,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 397,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,775,980.42. The trade was a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

GRAIL Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of GRAL stock opened at $80.56 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $71.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.96. GRAIL, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.75 and a 52 week high of $118.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a PE ratio of -8.26 and a beta of 3.25.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($2.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.66) by $0.10. The company had revenue of $44.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $42.39 million. GRAIL had a negative net margin of 236.95% and a negative return on equity of 15.88%. Analysts anticipate that GRAIL, Inc. will post -10.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GRAIL

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GRAL. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in GRAIL by 20.5% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,577,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,207,000 after purchasing an additional 608,539 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 6,569.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,966,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,493,000 after buying an additional 2,921,588 shares during the period. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of GRAIL by 73.7% during the 4th quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,342,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,510,000 after acquiring an additional 993,684 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in GRAIL during the 2nd quarter valued at $148,836,000. Finally, Baker BROS. Advisors LP increased its stake in GRAIL by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 2,085,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,484,000 after purchasing an additional 455,208 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on GRAL. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Friday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of GRAIL in a report on Friday, June 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of GRAIL in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of GRAIL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.78.

GRAIL Company Profile

GRAIL, Inc (NASDAQ: GRAL) is a biotechnology company dedicated to the early detection of cancer through a multi-cancer blood test. Leveraging advances in next-generation sequencing, cell-free DNA (cfDNA) analysis and machine learning, GRAIL has developed the Galleri™ test, which aims to identify more than 50 types of cancer at their earliest stages. The company’s platform analyzes methylation patterns in circulating tumor DNA to pinpoint tumor presence and tissue of origin, enabling physicians to pursue timely diagnostic follow-up.

Founded in 2016 as a spin-out from Illumina, GRAIL established its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, with additional research and operations centers in the United Kingdom.