Guggenheim Issues Pessimistic Forecast for GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Stock Price

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) had its price objective lowered by research analysts at Guggenheim from $130.00 to $75.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Guggenheim’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 45.12% from the stock’s current price.

GRAL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $82.00 target price on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Friday, February 20th. TD Cowen raised shares of GRAIL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced 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 note on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on GRAIL from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.83.

GRAIL Stock Performance

NASDAQ GRAL opened at $51.68 on Monday. GRAIL has a 52 week low of $20.44 and a 52 week high of $118.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $72.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.62 and a beta of 5.18.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($2.44) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($3.33) by $0.89. The company had revenue of $43.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.33 million. GRAIL had a negative net margin of 277.46% and a negative return on equity of 17.11%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that GRAIL will post -15.15 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert P. Ragusa sold 37,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total transaction of $1,881,575.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 650,525 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,636,839.25. The trade was a 5.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 9,573 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total transaction of $480,277.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 309,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,533,735.74. This represents a 3.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 79,294 shares of company stock worth $3,955,224.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GRAIL

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in GRAIL by 73.7% in the fourth 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 during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of GRAIL by 63.8% during 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 period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 38.8% during 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. Baker BROS. Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 27.9% during 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. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in GRAIL in the 4th quarter valued at $37,874,000.

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.