GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Upgraded to Hold at Royal Bank Of Canada

Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday,Zacks reports.

GRAL has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group set a $84.00 target price on GRAIL in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen raised GRAIL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on GRAIL in a research note on Friday, June 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on GRAIL in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.30.

GRAIL Trading Up 6.4%

GRAL stock opened at $79.95 on Thursday. GRAIL has a twelve month low of $38.89 and a twelve month high of $118.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $73.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.34. The stock has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.20 and a beta of 3.25.

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

Insider Transactions at GRAIL

In other news, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 7,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.01, for a total value of $671,579.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 253,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,514,585.83. This represents a 3.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Joshua Ofman sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.02, for a total transaction of $425,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 397,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,775,980.42. This trade represents a 1.24% 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. 1.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of GRAIL

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 26.3% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 21,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after purchasing an additional 4,498 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of GRAIL during the second quarter worth $82,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 8.6% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 833 shares during the period. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in GRAIL in the 2nd quarter valued at $96,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in GRAIL by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 40,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,769,000 after buying an additional 1,357 shares during the last quarter.

About GRAIL

GRAIL, Inc is a healthcare company focused on developing blood-based tests for the early detection of cancer. Its technology uses genomic and epigenomic signals, including patterns of DNA methylation, to identify signals associated with multiple cancer types from a single blood sample.

The company’s primary product is Galleri, a prescription blood test designed to screen for signals of more than 50 types of cancer, including cancers that currently lack recommended screening methods. Galleri is intended to complement, not replace, guideline-recommended cancer screenings, and a positive result requires follow-up diagnostic testing to determine whether cancer is present and where it may be located.

GRAIL was founded in 2016 as a subsidiary of Illumina and became an independent publicly traded company following its separation from Illumina in 2021.