GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate GRAIL “Hold” overall: Of 12 analysts, six recommend holding, five recommend buying, and one recommends selling. The average 12-month price target is $93.60.
• GRAIL reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with an EPS loss of $2.56 versus the $2.66 expected and revenue of $44.69 million versus the $42.39 million consensus estimate. However, the company remains unprofitable, with a negative net margin of 236.95%.
• Shares have been highly volatile and recently fell 5.4%: GRAL opened at $132.56, compared with a 12-month range of $41.50 to $151.46. Insiders have sold 78,452 shares worth approximately $7.49 million over the past 90 days, while major institutional investors increased their holdings.

Shares of GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $93.60.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GRAL. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Friday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on GRAIL in a report on Friday, June 5th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. UBS Group set a $84.00 price objective on GRAIL in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on GRAIL from $96.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on GRAIL from $65.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 25th.

GRAIL Trading Down 5.4%

Shares of GRAL opened at $132.56 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $83.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.60 and a beta of 2.81. GRAIL has a 12-month low of $41.50 and a 12-month high of $151.46.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($2.56) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 236.95% and a negative return on equity of 15.88%. Analysts predict that GRAIL will post -10.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at GRAIL

In other GRAIL news, CEO Joshua J. Ofman sold 61,452 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.74, for a total transaction of $6,006,318.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 362,271 shares in the company, valued at $35,408,367.54. This represents a 14.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 7,900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.01, for a total transaction of $671,579.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 253,083 shares in the company, valued at $21,514,585.83. This trade represents a 3.03% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 78,452 shares of company stock worth $7,485,691. Insiders own 1.83% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GRAIL

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in GRAIL by 20.5% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,577,075 shares of the company's stock valued at $244,207,000 after buying an additional 608,539 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in GRAIL by 26.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,385,514 shares of the company's stock worth $162,859,000 after buying an additional 493,621 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new stake in GRAIL during the second quarter worth $148,836,000. Baker BROS. Advisors LP boosted its position in GRAIL by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 2,085,333 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,484,000 after acquiring an additional 455,208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in GRAIL by 29.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 914,114 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,241,000 after acquiring an additional 205,611 shares in the last quarter.

GRAIL Company Profile

GRAIL, Inc is a healthcare company focused on developing blood-based technologies for the early detection of cancer. Its goal is to identify cancer signals before symptoms appear, when treatment may be more effective, by applying genomics, machine learning and other analytical methods to blood samples.

The company's primary product is the Galleri multi-cancer early detection test, a prescription laboratory-developed test designed to screen for signals associated with multiple types of cancer from a single blood draw.

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