Pier Capital LLC Decreases Stock Position in GRAIL, Inc. $GRAL

Key Points

• Pier Capital LLC reduced its position in GRAIL by 50.9% in Q4, selling 53,728 shares and leaving it with 51,836 shares valued at about $4.44 million.
• Top insiders sold significant stock on April 8 — CEO Robert Ragusa sold 123,502 shares and President Joshua Ofman sold 61,665 shares — with insiders offloading 310,267 shares worth roughly $15.49 million in the past three months.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: GRAIL has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target of $67.88, while some firms (e.g., Guggenheim, Morgan Stanley) have cut price targets and ratings vary from Buy to Sell.

Pier Capital LLC cut its stake in GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL - Free Report) by 50.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 51,836 shares of the company's stock after selling 53,728 shares during the period. Pier Capital LLC owned about 0.13% of GRAIL worth $4,437,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in GRAIL in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in GRAIL by 59.2% in the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 465 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new position in GRAIL in the third quarter valued at $62,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in GRAIL in the third quarter valued at $64,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in GRAIL by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,114 shares of the company's stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GRAL. Wall Street Zen downgraded GRAIL from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of GRAIL in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Guggenheim decreased their price target on GRAIL from $130.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on GRAIL from $110.00 to $60.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on GRAIL from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, GRAIL has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $67.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert P. Ragusa sold 123,502 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.92, for a total value of $6,165,219.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 518,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,887,613.44. The trade was a 19.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Joshua J. Ofman sold 61,665 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.92, for a total value of $3,078,316.80. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 371,216 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,531,102.72. The trade was a 14.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 310,267 shares of company stock valued at $15,485,396. Insiders own 1.85% of the company's stock.

GRAIL Stock Performance

GRAIL stock opened at $62.92 on Friday. GRAIL, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.95 and a fifty-two week high of $118.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.07 and a beta of 3.03. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.44.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($2.29) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.76) by $0.47. GRAIL had a negative return on equity of 16.63% and a negative net margin of 253.22%.The business had revenue of $40.79 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $39.16 million. As a group, analysts forecast that GRAIL, Inc. will post -11.82 earnings per share for the current year.

About GRAIL

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GRAL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL - Free Report).

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.