Grab Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:GRAB)

Key Points

• Grab saw unusually large options activity Monday with investors buying 66,117 call options, a 72% increase versus the average daily call volume of 38,491.
• Company insiders have been net sellers recently—total insider sales of 552,819 shares over the last three months, including CEO Anthony Tan selling 400,000 shares and CFO Peter Oey selling 50,000 shares; insiders now own 3.60% of the stock.
• Analyst and institutional signals are mixed: the consensus rating is a Moderate Buy with an average target of $6.56, while large institutions (e.g., Principal, HSBC) substantially increased positions; the stock trades around $3.62 with a $14.83 billion market cap.

Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GRAB - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors bought 66,117 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 72% compared to the average daily volume of 38,491 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GRAB shares. Wall Street Zen raised Grab from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Grab in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Grab from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Grab from $6.10 to $5.90 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $5.80 target price on shares of Grab in a research report on Monday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Grab has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $6.56.

Grab Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GRAB traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $3.62. 68,597,886 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 51,033,102. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.65. Grab has a 52 week low of $3.48 and a 52 week high of $6.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 120.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.93.

Grab (NASDAQ:GRAB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $906.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $942.08 million. Grab had a return on equity of 4.09% and a net margin of 7.92%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Grab will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Grab

In other Grab news, CEO Anthony Ping Yeow Tan sold 400,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.68, for a total transaction of $1,472,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 425,193 shares in the company, valued at $1,564,710.24. This represents a 48.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Peter Henry Oey sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.92, for a total value of $196,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 7,050,165 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,636,646.80. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 552,819 shares of company stock valued at $2,056,657 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Grab

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GRAB. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Grab by 62.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,422,123 shares of the company's stock valued at $78,405,000 after acquiring an additional 8,244,732 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Grab by 117.3% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 151,710 shares of the company's stock valued at $555,000 after acquiring an additional 81,902 shares during the period. Warm Springs Advisors Inc. increased its position in Grab by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. Warm Springs Advisors Inc. now owns 458,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 50,000 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Grab by 129.1% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 14,786,634 shares of the company's stock valued at $54,056,000 after acquiring an additional 8,331,486 shares during the period. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Grab by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 721,569 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,628,000 after acquiring an additional 2,858 shares during the period. 55.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Grab Company Profile

Grab Holdings Inc is a Singapore-based technology company that operates a consumer-facing "super app" across Southeast Asia offering services spanning ride-hailing, food and package delivery, and digital payments. Its platform connects consumers, drivers, merchants and delivery partners through mobile applications and supports on-demand mobility (taxi and private car), last-mile logistics, and on-demand food delivery under brands such as GrabFood and GrabExpress. The company has also developed a merchant-facing ecosystem that supports ordering, payment acceptance and loyalty functions.

Beyond transportation and delivery, Grab has expanded into financial services through Grab Financial Group, which provides digital payments via GrabPay, consumer lending, insurance distribution and small-business financial solutions.

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.