GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Hits New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $105.00 to $175.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. GRAIL traded as high as $151.46 and last traded at $140.12, with a volume of 1920136 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $136.57.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on GRAIL from $96.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. 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 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Friday, July 17th. 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, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of GRAIL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.70.

Insider Buying and Selling at GRAIL

In related news, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 7,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.01, for a total value of $671,579.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 253,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,514,585.83. The trade was a 3.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Joshua J. Ofman sold 61,452 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 362,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,408,367.54. The trade was a 14.50% 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. Insiders have sold 78,452 shares of company stock valued at $7,485,691 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GRAL. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in GRAIL by 20.5% during 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 last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of GRAIL by 26.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,385,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,859,000 after purchasing an additional 493,621 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new stake in shares of GRAIL during the second quarter worth $148,836,000. Baker BROS. Advisors LP increased its position 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 worth $178,484,000 after buying an additional 455,208 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in GRAIL by 29.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 914,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,241,000 after buying an additional 205,611 shares during the last quarter.

GRAIL Stock Up 8.1%

The firm has a market cap of $6.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.69 and a beta of 2.83. The business’s 50 day moving average is $85.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.85.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($2.56) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.66) by $0.10. The business 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that GRAIL, Inc. will post -10.41 EPS for the current year.

About GRAIL

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.