GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Trading Up 7.6% – Time to Buy?

Shares of GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL) traded up 7.6% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $75.75 and last traded at $74.7330. Approximately 225,291 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 934,800 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.48.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Friday, June 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded GRAIL from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Robert W. Baird set a $70.00 price objective on GRAIL in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on GRAIL in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on GRAIL from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, GRAIL currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.78.

GRAIL Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $66.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.59 and a beta of 3.24.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($2.56) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.66) by $0.10. GRAIL had a negative net margin of 236.95% and a negative return on equity of 15.88%. The firm had revenue of $44.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.39 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that GRAIL, Inc. will post -10.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Andrew John Partridge sold 1,491 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.08, for a total value of $91,070.28. Following the sale, the insider owned 163,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,001,117.04. This trade represents a 0.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GRAIL

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GRAL. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in GRAIL by 154,361.0% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 91,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,531,000 after buying an additional 91,073 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,980,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,535,000 after buying an additional 163,790 shares in the last quarter. WIM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Ltd lifted its position in shares of GRAIL by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. WIM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 106,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,107,000 after acquiring an additional 43,400 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of GRAIL by 1,036.8% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 40,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,585,000 after acquiring an additional 37,326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of GRAIL by 141.2% during the 4th quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 22,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,949,000 after acquiring an additional 13,334 shares in the last quarter.

GRAIL Company Profile

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.