14,044,943 Shares in Personalis, Inc. $PSNL Purchased by Merck & Co. Inc.

Merck & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Personalis, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSNL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 14,044,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $188,202,236. Personalis comprises 0.0% of Merck & Co. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Merck & Co. Inc. owned about 13.41% of Personalis at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Personalis by 8.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,066,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,791,000 after acquiring an additional 83,074 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Personalis by 148.3% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 139,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $886,000 after buying an additional 83,040 shares in the last quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC bought a new position in shares of Personalis during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,970,000. Howland Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Personalis by 65.5% in the 4th quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 547,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,355,000 after buying an additional 216,442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AIGH Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Personalis in the second quarter valued at approximately $22,981,000. 61.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PSNL shares. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Personalis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Personalis from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Personalis from $9.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Craig Hallum downgraded Personalis from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $16.25 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Personalis from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Aaron Tachibana sold 4,982 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.00, for a total transaction of $69,748.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 198,833 shares in the company, valued at $2,783,662. This trade represents a 2.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher M. Hall sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.08, for a total transaction of $1,508,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 235,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,558,668.88. This trade represents a 29.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 296,233 shares of company stock valued at $4,048,636 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Personalis Stock Up 0.8%

PSNL stock traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $16.93. The stock had a trading volume of 1,436,922 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,692,743. The company has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.53 and a beta of 2.27. Personalis, Inc. has a one year low of $4.65 and a one year high of $18.89. The company’s 50 day moving average is $13.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.93.

Personalis (NASDAQ:PSNL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by ($0.04). Personalis had a negative return on equity of 46.47% and a negative net margin of 153.84%.The business had revenue of $22.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.69 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Personalis, Inc. will post -1.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Personalis

Personalis, Inc (NASDAQ: PSNL) is a clinical?stage genomics company that develops and markets advanced next?generation sequencing (NGS) services and assays designed to accelerate precision medicine. The Company’s core offering is the ImmunoID NeXT™ Platform, which combines comprehensive tumor profiling—including whole exome, transcriptome, and T?cell receptor sequencing—with proprietary bioinformatics to identify biomarkers and guide immuno?oncology research. Personalis serves biopharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and clinical research organizations seeking in?depth insights into cancer, autoimmune diseases and other complex conditions.

In addition to its flagship ImmunoID NeXT™ Platform, Personalis offers a suite of customizable sequencing assays for biomarker discovery, clinical trial support and companion diagnostic development.