Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL)

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders acquired 5,910 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 229% compared to the average daily volume of 1,799 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GRAIL

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GRAL. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 73.7% during the 4th quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,342,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,510,000 after buying an additional 993,684 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in GRAIL by 63.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,511,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,385,000 after acquiring an additional 588,647 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in GRAIL by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,827,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,418,000 after acquiring an additional 510,546 shares in the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 2,085,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,484,000 after acquiring an additional 455,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of GRAIL in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,874,000.

GRAIL Stock Down 14.3%

Shares of GRAIL stock opened at $43.03 on Tuesday. GRAIL has a 12-month low of $20.44 and a 12-month high of $118.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.85 and a beta of 4.52. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $95.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.60.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported ($2.44) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.33) by $0.89. The company had revenue of $43.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.33 million. GRAIL had a negative net margin of 277.46% and a negative return on equity of 17.58%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that GRAIL will post -15.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on GRAL. TD Cowen assumed coverage on GRAIL in a report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $114.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $82.00 price target on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $100.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.50.

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.