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

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) was upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on GRAL. Mizuho began coverage on GRAIL in a research note on Friday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $58.00 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 note on Tuesday, February 24th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on 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 upped their price objective on GRAIL from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $70.00 price objective on GRAIL in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.00.

GRAIL Stock Down 9.9%

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

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($2.29) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.76) by $0.47. GRAIL had a negative return on equity of 16.42% and a negative net margin of 253.22%.The firm had revenue of $40.79 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.16 million. Research analysts expect that GRAIL will post -10.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 45,806 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.92, for a total value of $2,286,635.52. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 260,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,012,596.48. This represents a 14.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Joshua J. Ofman sold 61,665 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.92, for a total value of $3,078,316.80. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 371,216 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,531,102.72. The trade was a 14.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 245,354 shares of company stock valued at $12,238,545. Corporate insiders own 1.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GRAL. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in GRAIL by 15,733.3% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 475 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in GRAIL during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Comerica Bank increased its holdings in GRAIL by 59.2% during the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 465 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in GRAIL during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in GRAIL by 160.0% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 585 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the period.

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.