GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded GRAIL from a “sell” to a “hold,” adding to a mixed analyst picture that currently averages to a Hold rating with a $67.88 target price.
• GRAIL reported quarterly EPS of ($2.29), beating expectations, and revenue of $40.79 million, slightly ahead of estimates. Analysts still expect the company to post a full-year loss.
• Insiders have been selling shares recently, including the president and CFO, while several institutional investors increased their holdings in the first quarter.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Mizuho initiated coverage on GRAIL in a research note on Friday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on GRAIL from $110.00 to $60.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on GRAIL from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $70.00 price objective on GRAIL in a research report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $67.88.

GRAIL Stock Performance

Shares of GRAL stock opened at $61.64 on Friday. GRAIL has a 52-week low of $29.95 and a 52-week high of $118.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of -5.94 and a beta of 3.03. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.44.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($2.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $39.16 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that GRAIL will post -11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Joshua J. Ofman sold 61,665 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.92, for a total transaction of $3,078,316.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 371,216 shares in the company, valued at $18,531,102.72. This trade represents a 14.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Aaron Freidin sold 45,806 shares of the firm'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 $2,286,635.52. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 260,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,012,596.48. The trade was a 14.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 310,267 shares of company stock worth $15,485,396 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.85% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,617 shares of the company's stock valued at $497,000 after acquiring an additional 772 shares during the last quarter. DUTCH ASSET Corp lifted its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. DUTCH ASSET Corp now owns 7,135 shares of the company's stock valued at $369,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 88.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 408,650 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,104,000 after acquiring an additional 191,857 shares during the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 3,881 shares of the company's stock valued at $201,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of GRAIL by 160.0% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 585 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the last quarter.

GRAIL Company 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.