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

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL)’s share price rose 7.6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $77.00 and last traded at $76.83. Approximately 166,483 shares changed hands during mid-day 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $110.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of GRAIL in a report on Friday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of GRAIL from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $70.00 price target on shares of GRAIL in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.88.

GRAIL Trading Up 5.5%

The stock has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of -7.27 and a beta of 3.03. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $54.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.29.

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

Insider Activity at GRAIL

In related news, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 45,806 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.92, for a total value of $2,286,635.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 260,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,012,596.48. This represents a 14.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert P. Ragusa sold 123,502 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.92, for a total value of $6,165,219.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 518,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,887,613.44. This represents a 19.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 310,267 shares of company stock valued at $15,485,396. 1.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of GRAIL

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of GRAIL by 73.7% in the 4th quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,342,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,510,000 after acquiring an additional 993,684 shares during the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of GRAIL by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 2,085,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,484,000 after acquiring an additional 455,208 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of GRAIL by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,980,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,535,000 after acquiring an additional 163,790 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of GRAIL by 38.8% in the 4th 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of GRAIL by 63.8% in the 4th 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 during 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.