GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Stock Rating Upgraded by UBS Group

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) was upgraded by stock analysts at UBS Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

GRAL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of GRAIL in a research 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 research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on GRAIL in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Mizuho boosted their price target on GRAIL from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.11.

GRAIL Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GRAL opened at $76.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.55. GRAIL has a 52-week low of $36.87 and a 52-week high of $118.84. The company has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of -7.82 and a beta of 3.25.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other GRAIL news, CEO Joshua J. Ofman sold 5,000 shares of GRAIL stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.02, for a total transaction of $425,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 7,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.01, for a total transaction of $671,579.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 253,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,514,585.83. This represents a 3.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of GRAIL

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in GRAIL by 15,733.3% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the period. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 59.2% during the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 465 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of GRAIL during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of GRAIL by 160.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of GRAIL in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000.

GRAIL Company Profile

GRAIL, Inc is a healthcare company focused on developing blood-based tests for the early detection of cancer. Its technology uses genomic and epigenomic signals, including patterns of DNA methylation, to identify signals associated with multiple cancer types from a single blood sample.

The company’s primary product is Galleri, a prescription blood test designed to screen for signals of more than 50 types of cancer, including cancers that currently lack recommended screening methods. Galleri is intended to complement, not replace, guideline-recommended cancer screenings, and a positive result requires follow-up diagnostic testing to determine whether cancer is present and where it may be located.

GRAIL was founded in 2016 as a subsidiary of Illumina and became an independent publicly traded company following its separation from Illumina in 2021.