GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Stock Falls 5.6% – What’s Next?

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL)’s stock price traded down 5.6% during trading on Friday. The stock traded as low as $129.03 and last traded at $127.9350. 67,481 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 93% from the average daily volume of 971,234 shares. The stock had previously closed at $135.46.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of GRAIL from $60.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of GRAIL from $105.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of GRAIL from $80.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of GRAIL in a report on Thursday, September 17th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $84.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $96.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.80.

GRAIL Stock Down 9.5%

The company has a market cap of $5.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.54 and a beta of 2.83. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $97.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.70.

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

Insider Transactions at GRAIL

In other news, CEO Joshua Ofman sold 61,452 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.74, for a total value of $6,006,318.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 362,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,408,367.54. The trade was a 14.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 23,619 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.39, for a total transaction of $3,457,585.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 225,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,991,035.96. This represents a 9.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 109,944 shares of company stock worth $12,095,805. Company insiders own 1.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GRAIL

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GRAL. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of GRAIL in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of GRAIL by 15,733.3% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP bought a new stake in shares of GRAIL during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in GRAIL by 160.0% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 585 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the period. Finally, Osbon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in GRAIL during the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,000.

GRAIL Company Profile

GRAIL, Inc is a healthcare company focused on developing blood-based technologies for the early detection of cancer. Its goal is to identify cancer signals before symptoms appear, when treatment may be more effective, by applying genomics, machine learning and other analytical methods to blood samples.

The company’s primary product is the Galleri multi-cancer early detection test, a prescription laboratory-developed test designed to screen for signals associated with multiple types of cancer from a single blood draw.