GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Stock Price Down 8.1% After Insider Selling

Key Points

• GRAIL, Inc. experienced an 8.1% decline in stock price due to insider selling activities, trading at $79.38 after reaching a low of $80.95.
• President Joshua J. Ofman sold 6,114 shares at an average price of $82.01 on October 16th, reducing his ownership by 1.58%.
• Brokerages have issued varying ratings, with Weiss Ratings providing a "sell" rating and Canaccord Genuity raising the price target from $43.00 to $75.00.

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL - Get Free Report) fell 8.1% during mid-day trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $80.95 and last traded at $79.38. 287,417 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 1,266,116 shares. The stock had previously closed at $86.41.

Specifically, President Joshua J. Ofman sold 6,114 shares of GRAIL stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total transaction of $501,409.14. Following the sale, the president directly owned 381,818 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,312,894.18. The trade was a 1.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Joshua J. Ofman sold 8,865 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.03, for a total transaction of $674,005.95. Following the completion of the sale, the president directly owned 387,932 shares in the company, valued at $29,494,469.96. This represents a 2.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other GRAIL news, CEO Robert P. Ragusa sold 7,239 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total transaction of $498,622.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 727,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,102,485.44. This trade represents a 0.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GRAL. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group set a $75.00 target price on shares of GRAIL in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of GRAIL from $43.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $56.67.

GRAIL Trading Down 9.5%

The company has a market capitalization of $2.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.98 and a beta of 4.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $45.29 and a 200-day moving average of $39.72.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 12th. The company reported ($3.18) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($3.14) by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $35.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $37.57 million. GRAIL had a negative net margin of 329.86% and a negative return on equity of 16.64%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that GRAIL, Inc. will post -15.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GRAIL

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GRAL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of GRAIL by 3.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,499,740 shares of the company's stock worth $38,303,000 after acquiring an additional 48,645 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in GRAIL by 61.0% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,337,163 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,991,000 after buying an additional 506,440 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of GRAIL by 60.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 757,770 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,969,000 after buying an additional 285,331 shares during the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp purchased a new position in shares of GRAIL in the first quarter worth $18,247,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of GRAIL by 7.9% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 350,979 shares of the company's stock worth $18,047,000 after acquiring an additional 25,548 shares during the last quarter.

GRAIL Company Profile

GRAIL, Inc operates as a commercial-stage healthcare company, which engages in the development of a technology for early detection of cancer. It utilizes machine learning, software, and automation to detect and identify multiple deadly cancer types in earlier stages. The company was founded by Jeffrey T.

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