GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $83.39, but opened at $88.57. GRAIL shares last traded at $86.5930, with a volume of 170,680 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GRAL shares. Guggenheim upgraded GRAIL from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of GRAIL in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.00.

GRAIL Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.55 and a beta of 4.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $63.98 and its 200 day moving average is $47.40.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 12th. The company reported ($3.18) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($3.14) by ($0.04). GRAIL had a negative return on equity of 16.64% and a negative net margin of 329.86%.The company had revenue of $35.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.57 million. As a group, analysts expect that GRAIL, Inc. will post -15.15 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert P. Ragusa sold 7,239 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total value of $498,622.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 727,388 shares in the company, valued at $50,102,485.44. The trade was a 0.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Joshua J. Ofman sold 6,114 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $501,409.14. Following the sale, the president directly owned 381,818 shares in the company, valued at $31,312,894.18. This trade represents a 1.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 117,497 shares of company stock worth $7,515,436.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GRAIL

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in GRAIL by 5.5% in the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 8,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $439,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of GRAIL by 24.1% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of GRAIL by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 8,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 28.2% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 623 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in GRAIL by 5.7% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 11,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 627 shares during the period.

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.