GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Stock Price Down 7.5% – Time to Sell?

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL)’s share price fell 7.5% on Friday . The company traded as low as $48.72 and last traded at $48.2460. 157,843 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 1,288,496 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.16.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GRAL. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on GRAIL from $100.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on GRAIL from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 20th. TD Cowen upgraded GRAIL from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird set a $82.00 price objective on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $110.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, GRAIL currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.00.

GRAIL Stock Down 8.4%

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.66. The company has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.27 and a beta of 5.18.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($2.44) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($3.33) by $0.89. The business had revenue of $43.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.33 million. GRAIL had a negative return on equity of 17.11% and a negative net margin of 277.46%. On average, research analysts forecast that GRAIL, Inc. will post -15.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at GRAIL

In other news, CEO Robert P. Ragusa sold 37,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total value of $1,881,575.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 650,525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,636,839.25. This trade represents a 5.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President Joshua J. Ofman sold 17,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.16, for a total transaction of $852,820.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 436,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,895,241.28. This represents a 3.75% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 79,294 shares of company stock valued at $3,955,224 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of GRAIL

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of GRAIL by 17.7% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 88,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,250,000 after purchasing an additional 13,264 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of GRAIL by 28.2% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,835 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 623 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 390.3% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 1,401 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 37.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 92,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,362,000 after buying an additional 25,177 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in GRAIL by 60.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 757,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,969,000 after acquiring an additional 285,331 shares in the last quarter.

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.