GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Trading 6.9% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL)’s stock price traded up 6.9% during trading on Wednesday after TD Cowen upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. TD Cowen now has a $65.00 price target on the stock. GRAIL traded as high as $49.49 and last traded at $50.6230. 141,959 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 1,350,941 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.37.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of GRAIL from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 20th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of GRAIL from $100.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Robert W. Baird set a $82.00 price objective on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $110.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GRAIL presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.00.

Insider Transactions at GRAIL

In other GRAIL news, CEO Robert P. Ragusa sold 7,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.89, for a total value of $357,307.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 642,084 shares in the company, valued at $30,749,402.76. This represents a 1.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 2,492 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.89, for a total transaction of $119,341.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 306,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,677,087.75. This trade represents a 0.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 79,294 shares of company stock valued at $3,955,224 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GRAIL

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in GRAIL by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 68,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,870,000 after buying an additional 10,565 shares in the last quarter. Osbon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of GRAIL during the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Fund Advisors of America Inc FL acquired a new stake in shares of GRAIL during the fourth quarter valued at about $299,000. DUTCH ASSET Corp purchased a new stake in shares of GRAIL during the fourth quarter worth about $532,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of GRAIL by 60.4% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,000 after acquiring an additional 3,491 shares in the last quarter.

GRAIL Stock Up 0.1%

The firm has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.34 and a beta of 5.18. The company has a 50 day moving average of $80.65 and a 200 day moving average of $78.10.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($2.44) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.33) by $0.89. GRAIL had a negative return on equity of 17.11% and a negative net margin of 277.46%.The firm had revenue of $43.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.33 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that GRAIL, Inc. will post -15.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.