GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Shares Up 7% – Time to Buy?

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL)’s stock price traded up 7% during mid-day trading on Friday. The stock traded as high as $140.81 and last traded at $141.85. 113,905 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 977,377 shares. The stock had previously closed at $132.61.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on GRAIL in a report on Thursday, September 17th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of GRAIL from $80.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of GRAIL in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $65.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, GRAIL presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.70.

GRAIL Stock Up 5.3%

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.31 and a beta of 2.83.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Andrew Partridge sold 7,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.39, for a total transaction of $1,152,528.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 155,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,817,077.35. This trade represents a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 23,619 shares of GRAIL stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.39, for a total transaction of $3,457,585.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 225,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,991,035.96. This trade represents a 9.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 109,944 shares of company stock valued at $12,095,805. 1.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GRAIL

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of GRAIL by 29.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 914,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,241,000 after acquiring an additional 205,611 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in GRAIL by 255.6% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 28,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,939,000 after acquiring an additional 20,416 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in GRAIL in the second quarter worth about $1,171,000. State Street Corp increased its position in GRAIL by 26.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,385,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,859,000 after purchasing an additional 493,621 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in GRAIL by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,577,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,207,000 after purchasing an additional 608,539 shares during the last quarter.

About GRAIL

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.