GRAIL, Inc. $GRAL Shares Sold by Wesbanco Bank Inc.

Key Points

• Wesbanco Bank cut its GRAIL stake by 73% in Q4, selling 32,500 shares and ending with 12,000 shares worth about $1.03 million.
• Several other large investors were active in the stock, with notable increases from Farallon Capital, Bank of America, Allianz, and Vanguard.
• Insiders also sold shares: President Joshua J. Ofman and CFO Aaron Freidin both reduced their holdings, while analysts currently assign GRAIL a Hold consensus with a $67.88 average price target.

Wesbanco Bank Inc. lessened its stake in shares of GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL - Free Report) by 73.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,000 shares of the company's stock after selling 32,500 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.'s holdings in GRAIL were worth $1,027,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of GRAIL by 168.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,349,000 shares of the company's stock worth $79,766,000 after purchasing an additional 847,000 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of GRAIL by 121.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 335,365 shares of the company's stock worth $19,830,000 after purchasing an additional 183,611 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of GRAIL by 145.9% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 294,835 shares of the company's stock worth $17,434,000 after purchasing an additional 174,959 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of GRAIL by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,980,783 shares of the company's stock worth $169,535,000 after purchasing an additional 163,790 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of GRAIL by 259.1% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 218,671 shares of the company's stock worth $11,244,000 after purchasing an additional 157,780 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Joshua J. Ofman sold 61,665 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.92, for a total value of $3,078,316.80. Following the transaction, the president directly owned 371,216 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,531,102.72. This trade represents a 14.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 45,806 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.92, for a total value of $2,286,635.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 260,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,012,596.48. This represents a 14.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 310,267 shares of company stock valued at $15,485,396. 1.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GRAL. Wall Street Zen raised GRAIL from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Mizuho began coverage on GRAIL in a research note on Friday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price target on GRAIL from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on GRAIL from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, GRAIL presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $67.88.

GRAIL Stock Performance

Shares of GRAL opened at $61.64 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.94 and a beta of 3.03. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $51.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.44. GRAIL, Inc. has a twelve month low of $29.95 and a twelve month high of $118.84.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($2.29) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.76) by $0.47. The business had revenue of $40.79 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.16 million. GRAIL had a negative return on equity of 16.42% and a negative net margin of 253.22%. Sell-side analysts predict that GRAIL, Inc. will post -11.09 earnings per share for the current year.

GRAIL 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.