GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Shares Down 5.6% – What’s Next?

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL)’s share price fell 5.6% during mid-day trading on Friday. The stock traded as low as $129.03 and last traded at $127.9350. Approximately 67,481 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 93% from the average daily volume of 971,234 shares. The stock had previously closed at $135.46.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GRAL. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on GRAIL from $60.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on GRAIL from $96.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of GRAIL from $65.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of GRAIL from $88.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.80.

GRAIL Trading Down 9.5%

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $97.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.70. The stock has a market cap of $5.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.54 and a beta of 2.83.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($2.56) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $44.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.39 million. Equities analysts forecast that GRAIL, Inc. will post -10.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Joshua Ofman sold 61,452 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.74, for a total transaction of $6,006,318.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 362,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,408,367.54. This trade represents a 14.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 23,619 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.39, for a total transaction of $3,457,585.41. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 225,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,991,035.96. This represents a 9.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 109,944 shares of company stock valued at $12,095,805 in the last quarter. 1.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its position in GRAIL by 1.3% in the third quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 13,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of GRAIL by 6.9% during the first quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 3,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 30.3% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of GRAIL during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of GRAIL by 160.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the period.

About GRAIL

GRAIL, Inc is a healthcare company focused on developing blood-based technologies for the early detection of cancer. Its goal is to identify cancer signals before symptoms appear, when treatment may be more effective, by applying genomics, machine learning and other analytical methods to blood samples.

The company’s primary product is the Galleri multi-cancer early detection test, a prescription laboratory-developed test designed to screen for signals associated with multiple types of cancer from a single blood draw.