GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Trading Up 7.1% – Here’s What Happened

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL)’s stock price shot up 7.1% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $87.68 and last traded at $87.2720. 583,295 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 1,259,094 shares. The stock had previously closed at $81.46.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on GRAL shares. UBS Group set a $75.00 target price on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Guggenheim raised shares of GRAIL from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on GRAIL from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, GRAIL has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.00.

GRAIL Trading Up 9.2%

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.01.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported ($2.46) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.40) by $0.94. GRAIL had a negative return on equity of 15.69% and a negative net margin of 286.43%.The business had revenue of $36.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.83 million. Equities analysts expect that GRAIL, Inc. will post -15.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at GRAIL

In other news, President Joshua J. Ofman sold 6,114 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $501,409.14. Following the sale, the president owned 381,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,312,894.18. This trade represents a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert P. Ragusa sold 7,239 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total transaction of $498,622.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 727,388 shares in the company, valued at $50,102,485.44. This trade represents a 0.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 113,295 shares of company stock valued at $7,380,888 over the last three months. 1.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GRAIL

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in GRAIL by 168.7% in the 3rd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,349,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,766,000 after acquiring an additional 847,000 shares in the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new position in shares of GRAIL in the first quarter valued at $18,247,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in GRAIL by 61.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,991,000 after buying an additional 506,440 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in GRAIL by 60.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 757,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,969,000 after buying an additional 285,331 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of GRAIL by 121.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 335,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,830,000 after buying an additional 183,611 shares in the last quarter.

About GRAIL

GRAIL, Inc operates as a commercial-stage healthcare company, which engages in the development of a technology for early detection of cancer. It utilizes machine learning, software, and automation to detect and identify multiple deadly cancer types in earlier stages. The company was founded by Jeffrey T.