GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Stock Price Up 7.6% – Time to Buy?

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL)’s stock price rose 7.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $77.00 and last traded at $76.83. Approximately 166,483 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 1,041,624 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.42.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GRAL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $130.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of GRAIL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $70.00 price objective on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, GRAIL presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.88.

GRAIL Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.27 and a beta of 3.03. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.29.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($2.29) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.76) by $0.47. GRAIL had a negative net margin of 253.22% and a negative return on equity of 16.42%. The business had revenue of $40.79 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.16 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that GRAIL, Inc. will post -10.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert P. Ragusa sold 123,502 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.92, for a total transaction of $6,165,219.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 518,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,887,613.44. The trade was a 19.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Joshua J. Ofman sold 61,665 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.92, for a total transaction of $3,078,316.80. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 371,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,531,102.72. This trade represents a 14.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 310,267 shares of company stock valued at $15,485,396. 1.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of GRAIL

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in GRAIL by 73.7% in the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,342,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,510,000 after purchasing an additional 993,684 shares in the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in GRAIL by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,980,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,535,000 after purchasing an additional 163,790 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 510,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised 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 purchasing an additional 588,647 shares in the last quarter.

About GRAIL

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.