GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Shares Down 7% – What’s Next?

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL) shares were down 7% during trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $144.85 and last traded at $143.2250. Approximately 604,210 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 971,305 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on GRAIL from $105.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of GRAIL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of GRAIL from $80.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.70.

GRAIL Trading Down 9.1%

The company’s 50-day moving average is $86.86 and its 200 day moving average is $69.76. The firm has a market cap of $6.26 billion, a PE ratio of -14.36 and a beta of 2.83.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($2.56) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.66) by $0.10. GRAIL had a negative return on equity of 15.88% and a negative net margin of 236.95%.The firm had revenue of $44.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.39 million. On average, research analysts predict that GRAIL, Inc. will post -10.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at GRAIL

In other news, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 7,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.01, for a total transaction of $671,579.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 253,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,514,585.83. This represents a 3.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Joshua Ofman sold 61,452 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.74, for a total value of $6,006,318.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 362,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,408,367.54. This trade represents a 14.50% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 78,452 shares of company stock worth $7,485,691 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.83% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GRAIL

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of GRAIL by 29.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 914,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,241,000 after buying an additional 205,611 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 255.6% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 28,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,939,000 after acquiring an additional 20,416 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of GRAIL by 26.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,385,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,859,000 after purchasing an additional 493,621 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in GRAIL by 20.5% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,577,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $244,207,000 after buying an additional 608,539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in GRAIL during the second quarter worth about $1,171,000.

GRAIL Company Profile

GRAIL, Inc is a healthcare company focused on developing blood-based technologies for the early detection of cancer. Its goal is to identify cancer signals before symptoms appear, when treatment may be more effective, by applying genomics, machine learning and other analytical methods to blood samples.

The company’s primary product is the Galleri multi-cancer early detection test, a prescription laboratory-developed test designed to screen for signals associated with multiple types of cancer from a single blood draw.