GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Shares Up 6.9% Following Analyst Upgrade

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL)’s share price shot up 6.9% during trading on Wednesday after TD Cowen upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. TD Cowen now has a $65.00 price target on the stock. GRAIL traded as high as $49.49 and last traded at $50.6230. 141,959 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 1,350,941 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.37.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on GRAL. Robert W. Baird set a $82.00 price target on GRAIL in a report on Friday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on GRAIL from $110.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on GRAIL from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $100.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.00.

Insider Activity at GRAIL

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GRAIL

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WIM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Ltd lifted its position in shares of GRAIL by 200.0% during the third quarter. WIM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 63,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,725,000 after acquiring an additional 42,000 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of GRAIL by 159.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 206,120 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,188,000 after purchasing an additional 126,576 shares in the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of GRAIL by 168.7% in the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,349,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,766,000 after purchasing an additional 847,000 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of GRAIL during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,320,000. Finally, NWF Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in GRAIL during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,062,000.

GRAIL Trading Up 2.2%

The business has a fifty day moving average of $81.65 and a 200-day moving average of $78.30. The firm has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a PE ratio of -4.33 and a beta of 5.18.

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

GRAIL Company Profile

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.