GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

GRAIL, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRAL)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $83.39, but opened at $88.57. GRAIL shares last traded at $86.5930, with a volume of 170,680 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim upgraded shares of GRAIL from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of GRAIL from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of GRAIL in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group set a $75.00 price objective on GRAIL in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.00.

GRAIL Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.55 and a beta of 4.31.

GRAIL (NASDAQ:GRAL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.57 million. GRAIL had a negative return on equity of 16.64% and a negative net margin of 329.86%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that GRAIL, Inc. will post -15.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at GRAIL

In related news, President Joshua J. Ofman sold 6,114 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $31,312,894.18. This represents a 1.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert P. Ragusa sold 7,239 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total value of $498,622.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 727,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,102,485.44. The trade was a 0.99% 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 117,497 shares of company stock worth $7,515,436.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GRAIL

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 48,645 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 506,440 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in GRAIL by 60.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 757,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,969,000 after acquiring an additional 285,331 shares during the period. Wealthquest Corp bought a new stake in GRAIL in the first quarter valued at approximately $18,247,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake 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 valued at $18,047,000 after purchasing an additional 25,548 shares during the period.

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.