Zacks Research Downgrades Personalis (NASDAQ:PSNL) to Strong Sell

Personalis (NASDAQ:PSNL) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

PSNL has been the topic of several other research reports. BTIG Research lifted their target price on shares of Personalis from $11.00 to $16.25 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Personalis in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Personalis in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Personalis from $9.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut Personalis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.25.

Personalis Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PSNL opened at $12.47 on Tuesday. Personalis has a 1 year low of $3.84 and a 1 year high of $16.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.23 and a beta of 2.24. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $11.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.01.

Personalis (NASDAQ:PSNL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.29) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $15.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.48 million. Personalis had a negative return on equity of 43.52% and a negative net margin of 148.11%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Personalis will post -1.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Personalis news, CEO Christopher M. Hall sold 100,000 shares of Personalis stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.15, for a total transaction of $1,315,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 235,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,103,215.90. The trade was a 29.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Aaron Tachibana sold 51,251 shares of Personalis stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.18, for a total transaction of $675,488.18. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 198,833 shares in the company, valued at $2,620,618.94. This trade represents a 20.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 435,032 shares of company stock worth $5,599,929. Corporate insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Personalis

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Personalis by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 78,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 2,395 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its position in Personalis by 75.6% in the first quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 76,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after acquiring an additional 33,044 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Personalis by 55.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 284,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $998,000 after acquiring an additional 101,706 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new stake in Personalis during the first quarter worth $47,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Personalis by 505.6% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 29,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 24,621 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.91% of the company’s stock.

About Personalis

Personalis, Inc (NASDAQ: PSNL) is a clinical‐stage genomics company that develops and markets advanced next‐generation sequencing (NGS) services and assays designed to accelerate precision medicine. The Company’s core offering is the ImmunoID NeXT™ Platform, which combines comprehensive tumor profiling—including whole exome, transcriptome, and T‐cell receptor sequencing—with proprietary bioinformatics to identify biomarkers and guide immuno‐oncology research. Personalis serves biopharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and clinical research organizations seeking in‐depth insights into cancer, autoimmune diseases and other complex conditions.

In addition to its flagship ImmunoID NeXT™ Platform, Personalis offers a suite of customizable sequencing assays for biomarker discovery, clinical trial support and companion diagnostic development.