Needham & Company LLC Downgrades Personalis (NASDAQ:PSNL) to Hold

Personalis (NASDAQ:PSNL) was downgraded by analysts at Needham & Company LLC from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports.

PSNL has been the subject of a number of other reports. BTIG Research cut their price target on Personalis from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Personalis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Personalis from $9.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Personalis in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Personalis in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.25.

Personalis Stock Performance

Shares of PSNL opened at $13.44 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $11.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.98. Personalis has a 52-week low of $3.84 and a 52-week high of $16.39. The company has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.18 and a beta of 2.24.

Personalis (NASDAQ:PSNL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $15.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.48 million. Personalis had a negative return on equity of 43.52% and a negative net margin of 148.11%. As a group, research analysts predict that Personalis will post -1.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Christopher M. Hall sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.08, for a total transaction of $1,508,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 235,986 shares in the company, valued at $3,558,668.88. The trade was a 29.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Aaron Tachibana sold 4,982 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.00, for a total value of $69,748.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 198,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,783,662. This represents a 2.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 435,032 shares of company stock valued at $5,599,929. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Personalis by 76.1% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 3,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,479 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Personalis during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Personalis during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Personalis by 406.4% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 5,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth bought a new position in Personalis in the first quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 61.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Personalis News

Here are the key news stories impacting Personalis this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The Tempus deal gives Personalis shareholders a clear cash/stock exit value at $16.25 per share, creating a takeover premium versus recent trading levels. Tempus to Acquire Personalis, More Tightly Integrating Molecular Residual Disease (MRD) into Its AI-Enabled Precision Oncology Platform
• Positive Sentiment: The acquisition validates Personalis’ MRD and cancer-monitoring technology, which Tempus said will strengthen its AI-enabled precision oncology platform and expand its cancer recurrence-testing capabilities. Tempus to acquire Personalis for $1.5 billion
• Neutral Sentiment: Several investor-rights law firms, including Halper Sadeh, Brodsky & Smith, Ademi, and Julie & Holleman, have launched investigations into whether the sale terms are fair to shareholders, which may add headline noise but does not change the deal economics. Are PSNL, LXP, DSGR, ATAI Obtaining Fair Deals for their Shareholders?
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary has been mixed, with BTIG raising its price target to $16.25 while Needham downgraded the stock to hold, reflecting debate over valuation rather than a change in the merger terms. Analyst coverage references
• Negative Sentiment: Some market coverage notes that both PSNL and TEM traded lower after the deal announcement, suggesting investors may be concerned about execution risk, deal structure, or limited upside beyond the acquisition price. Tempus AI Buys Personalis for $1.5 Billion, and Both Stocks Sink

About Personalis

Personalis, Inc (NASDAQ: PSNL) is a clinical‐stage genomics company that develops and markets advanced next‐generation sequencing (NGS) services and assays designed to accelerate precision medicine. The Company’s core offering is the ImmunoID NeXT™ Platform, which combines comprehensive tumor profiling—including whole exome, transcriptome, and T‐cell receptor sequencing—with proprietary bioinformatics to identify biomarkers and guide immuno‐oncology research. Personalis serves biopharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and clinical research organizations seeking in‐depth insights into cancer, autoimmune diseases and other complex conditions.

In addition to its flagship ImmunoID NeXT™ Platform, Personalis offers a suite of customizable sequencing assays for biomarker discovery, clinical trial support and companion diagnostic development.