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

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL) CEO Robert Ragusa sold 980 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total value of $51,949.80. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

GRAIL Trading Down 4.8%

Shares of GRAL opened at $46.33 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.14 and a beta of 5.18. GRAIL, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.44 and a 12 month high of $118.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $86.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.87.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($2.44) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.33) by $0.89. The firm had revenue of $43.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.33 million. GRAIL had a negative return on equity of 17.58% and a negative net margin of 277.46%. Equities research analysts forecast that GRAIL, Inc. will post -15.15 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GRAL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $114.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. Robert W. Baird set a $82.00 price objective on GRAIL in a report on Friday, February 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of GRAIL from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. 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, GRAIL currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.17.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GRAIL

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of GRAIL by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 88,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,250,000 after acquiring an additional 13,264 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 28.2% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 623 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 390.3% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,401 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in GRAIL by 37.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 92,465 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,362,000 after purchasing an additional 25,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of GRAIL by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 8,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $439,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the period.

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.