GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Upgraded to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded GRAIL from “sell” to “hold.” Across analysts, the stock has an average “Hold” rating and a consensus price target of $71.11.
• GRAIL reported quarterly revenue of $44.69 million and an adjusted loss of $2.56 per share, beating analysts’ estimates for both measures, but profitability remained weak with a negative net margin of 236.95%.
• Shares opened at $76.23, giving GRAIL a market capitalization of approximately $3.41 billion. Institutional investors including BlackRock, CalSTRS and Primecap increased or initiated positions, while the CEO and CFO sold shares under pre-arranged trading plans.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on GRAL. UBS Group began coverage on GRAIL in a report on Wednesday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $105.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho raised their target price on GRAIL from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wolfe Research started coverage on GRAIL in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Friday, June 5th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.11.

GRAIL Stock Performance

GRAL opened at $76.23 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $73.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of -7.82 and a beta of 3.25. GRAIL has a 52 week low of $36.87 and a 52 week high of $118.84.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $42.39 million. Equities analysts forecast that GRAIL will post -10.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other GRAIL news, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 7,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.01, for a total transaction of $671,579.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 253,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,514,585.83. This trade represents a 3.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Joshua Ofman sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.02, for a total transaction of $425,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 397,271 shares in the company, valued at $33,775,980.42. This trade represents a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GRAIL

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of GRAIL by 6,569.8% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,966,058 shares of the company's stock valued at $202,493,000 after purchasing an additional 2,921,588 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new position in shares of GRAIL during the second quarter worth about $148,836,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its position in GRAIL by 73.7% in the 4th quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,342,684 shares of the company's stock valued at $200,510,000 after buying an additional 993,684 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in GRAIL in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $49,389,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in GRAIL by 20.5% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,577,075 shares of the company's stock valued at $244,207,000 after acquiring an additional 608,539 shares in 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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