GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) CEO Sells $51,949.80 in Stock

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL) CEO Robert Ragusa sold 980 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total value of $51,949.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 649,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,432,380.45. The trade was a 0.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

GRAIL Stock Performance

GRAL traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $49.82. 1,587,964 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,112,505. GRAIL, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.44 and a 1 year high of $118.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a PE ratio of -4.46 and a beta of 5.21. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $88.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.99.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 277.46% and a negative return on equity of 17.58%. The company had revenue of $43.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.33 million. Sell-side analysts expect that GRAIL, Inc. will post -15.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GRAIL

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRAL. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of GRAIL by 73.7% in the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,342,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,510,000 after purchasing an additional 993,684 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted 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 valued at $129,385,000 after buying an additional 588,647 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $156,418,000 after buying an additional 510,546 shares in the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 455,208 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in GRAIL in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,874,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on GRAL shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Cowen started coverage on GRAIL in a report on Thursday, February 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $114.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on GRAIL from $110.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on GRAIL from $100.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $82.00 price objective on GRAIL in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.17.

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.