GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Stock Price Down 7% – Should You Sell?

Shares of GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL) dropped 7% on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $144.85 and last traded at $143.2250. Approximately 604,210 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 38% from the average daily volume of 971,305 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.08.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GRAL shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $96.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised GRAIL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on GRAIL from $105.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Mizuho raised their price target on GRAIL from $65.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on GRAIL in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.70.

GRAIL Trading Down 3.2%

The company has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.63 and a beta of 2.83. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.98.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last posted 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. GRAIL had a negative net margin of 236.95% and a negative return on equity of 15.88%. The business had revenue of $44.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.39 million. On average, analysts anticipate that GRAIL, Inc. will post -10.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at GRAIL

In related news, CEO Joshua J. Ofman sold 61,452 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.74, for a total value of $6,006,318.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 362,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,408,367.54. This trade represents a 14.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Andrew Partridge sold 7,873 shares of GRAIL stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.39, for a total transaction of $1,152,528.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 155,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,817,077.35. This represents a 4.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 109,944 shares of company stock valued at $12,095,805 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GRAIL

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its stake in shares of GRAIL by 1.3% during the third quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 13,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 26.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,385,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,859,000 after acquiring an additional 493,621 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 26.3% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 21,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after acquiring an additional 4,498 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of GRAIL during the 2nd quarter worth about $82,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of GRAIL by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $715,000 after acquiring an additional 833 shares in the last quarter.

GRAIL Company Profile

GRAIL, Inc is a healthcare company focused on developing blood-based technologies for the early detection of cancer. Its goal is to identify cancer signals before symptoms appear, when treatment may be more effective, by applying genomics, machine learning and other analytical methods to blood samples.

The company’s primary product is the Galleri multi-cancer early detection test, a prescription laboratory-developed test designed to screen for signals associated with multiple types of cancer from a single blood draw.