GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Upgraded to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

GRAL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Friday, June 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.11.

GRAIL Stock Performance

NASDAQ GRAL opened at $76.23 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.82 and a beta of 3.25. GRAIL has a 12-month low of $36.87 and a 12-month high of $118.84.

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

Insider Transactions at GRAIL

In related news, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 7,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.01, for a total value of $671,579.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 253,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,514,585.83. This represents a 3.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Joshua J. Ofman sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.02, for a total transaction of $425,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 397,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,775,980.42. This represents a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 1.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of GRAIL

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GRAL. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 26.3% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 21,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,474,000 after purchasing an additional 4,498 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in GRAIL in the second quarter valued at $82,000. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in GRAIL by 8.6% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 833 shares during the last quarter. Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in GRAIL during the 2nd quarter worth about $96,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in GRAIL by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 40,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,769,000 after purchasing an additional 1,357 shares during the period.

About GRAIL

GRAIL, Inc is a healthcare company focused on developing blood-based tests for the early detection of cancer. Its technology uses genomic and epigenomic signals, including patterns of DNA methylation, to identify signals associated with multiple cancer types from a single blood sample.

The company’s primary product is Galleri, a prescription blood test designed to screen for signals of more than 50 types of cancer, including cancers that currently lack recommended screening methods. Galleri is intended to complement, not replace, guideline-recommended cancer screenings, and a positive result requires follow-up diagnostic testing to determine whether cancer is present and where it may be located.

GRAIL was founded in 2016 as a subsidiary of Illumina and became an independent publicly traded company following its separation from Illumina in 2021.