GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Raised to Strong-Buy at UBS Group

Key Points

• UBS Group upgraded GRAIL to “strong buy,” but the broader analyst consensus remains “hold,” with an average price target of $71.11.
• GRAIL reported a quarterly loss of $2.56 per share, beating estimates by $0.10, while revenue of $44.69 million exceeded expectations of $42.39 million.
• Shares opened at $76.23 and were down 1.7%; company executives sold shares under pre-arranged trading plans, while several institutional investors—including BlackRock and California State Teachers Retirement System—expanded their positions.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at UBS Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a report released on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

GRAL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of GRAIL from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Wolfe Research started coverage on GRAIL in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded GRAIL from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on GRAIL in a research note on Friday, June 5th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, GRAIL presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $71.11.

GRAIL Trading Down 1.7%

NASDAQ:GRAL opened at $76.23 on Wednesday. GRAIL has a 1-year low of $36.87 and a 1-year high of $118.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.82 and a beta of 3.25. The business's fifty day moving average price is $73.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.55.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($2.56) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($2.66) by $0.10. The company had revenue of $44.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.39 million. GRAIL had a negative return on equity of 15.88% and a negative net margin of 236.95%. Equities analysts forecast that GRAIL will post -10.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other GRAIL news, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 7,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.01, for a total value of $671,579.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 253,083 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,514,585.83. The trade was a 3.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Joshua Ofman sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.02, for a total value of $425,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 397,271 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,775,980.42. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GRAIL

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in GRAIL by 6,569.8% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,966,058 shares of the company's stock worth $202,493,000 after acquiring an additional 2,921,588 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new stake in shares of GRAIL in the second quarter valued at about $148,836,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of GRAIL by 73.7% in the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,342,684 shares of the company's stock worth $200,510,000 after purchasing an additional 993,684 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of GRAIL in the second quarter worth about $49,389,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of GRAIL by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,577,075 shares of the company's stock worth $244,207,000 after purchasing an additional 608,539 shares during the last quarter.

GRAIL Company Profile

GRAIL, Inc is a healthcare company focused on developing blood-based tests for the early detection of cancer. Its technology uses genomic and epigenomic signals, including patterns of DNA methylation, to identify signals associated with multiple cancer types from a single blood sample.

The company's primary product is Galleri, a prescription blood test designed to screen for signals of more than 50 types of cancer, including cancers that currently lack recommended screening methods. Galleri is intended to complement, not replace, guideline-recommended cancer screenings, and a positive result requires follow-up diagnostic testing to determine whether cancer is present and where it may be located.

GRAIL was founded in 2016 as a subsidiary of Illumina and became an independent publicly traded company following its separation from Illumina in 2021.

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