GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $53.23, but opened at $49.32. GRAIL shares last traded at $49.2530, with a volume of 253,553 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GRAL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of GRAIL from $110.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on GRAIL from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 20th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on GRAIL from $100.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on GRAIL in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $114.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, GRAIL has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.17.

GRAIL Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.72 and a beta of 5.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $91.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.46.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($2.44) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($3.33) by $0.89. The company had revenue of $43.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.33 million. GRAIL had a negative return on equity of 17.58% and a negative net margin of 277.46%. On average, research analysts predict that GRAIL, Inc. will post -15.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at GRAIL

In related news, President Joshua J. Ofman sold 17,002 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.16, for a total value of $852,820.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 436,508 shares in the company, valued at $21,895,241.28. This trade represents a 3.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 9,573 shares of GRAIL stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total transaction of $480,277.41. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 309,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,533,735.74. This trade represents a 3.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 64,079 shares of company stock valued at $3,214,673 in the last three months.

Institutional Trading of GRAIL

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GRAL. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its position in GRAIL by 73.7% during the 4th quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,342,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,510,000 after buying an additional 993,684 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in GRAIL by 63.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,511,687 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,385,000 after acquiring an additional 588,647 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of GRAIL by 38.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,827,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,418,000 after acquiring an additional 510,546 shares during the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 2,085,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,484,000 after acquiring an additional 455,208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in shares of GRAIL during the fourth quarter valued at $37,874,000.

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.