GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Rating Increased to Hold at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) to a hold rating in a report published on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on GRAL. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of GRAIL from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $130.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, GRAIL currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.00.

GRAIL Trading Down 9.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:GRAL opened at $59.98 on Friday. GRAIL has a 12 month low of $29.95 and a 12 month high of $118.84. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $57.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.49. The company has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.78 and a beta of 3.15.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($2.29) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.76) by $0.47. GRAIL had a negative net margin of 253.22% and a negative return on equity of 16.42%. The firm had revenue of $40.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.16 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that GRAIL will post -10.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other GRAIL news, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 45,806 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.92, for a total value of $2,286,635.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 260,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,012,596.48. This trade represents a 14.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert P. Ragusa sold 123,502 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.92, for a total transaction of $6,165,219.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 518,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,887,613.44. The trade was a 19.23% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 245,354 shares of company stock worth $12,238,545 in the last ninety days. 1.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of GRAIL

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of GRAIL by 73.7% during the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,342,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,510,000 after acquiring an additional 993,684 shares in the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of GRAIL by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 2,085,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,484,000 after acquiring an additional 455,208 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of GRAIL by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,980,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,535,000 after acquiring an additional 163,790 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of GRAIL by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,827,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,418,000 after acquiring an additional 510,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of GRAIL by 63.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,511,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,385,000 after acquiring an additional 588,647 shares in the last quarter.

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.