Investors Buy Large Volume of Grab Call Options (NASDAQ:GRAB)

Key Points

• Traders bought an unusually large volume of calls—60,214 call options on Grab, about a 69% increase versus the average daily call volume, signaling heightened bullish positioning.
• Wall Street sentiment has turned positive with multiple upgrades, leaving Grab with a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of about $6.67.
• Corporate insiders have been sellers: CEO Anthony Tan sold 400,000 shares under a Rule 10b5-1 plan and insiders disposed of 452,819 shares (~$1.66M) over the past 90 days.

Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GRAB - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 60,214 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 69% compared to the average daily volume of 35,626 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on GRAB shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Grab from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. HSBC upgraded shares of Grab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $6.20 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $5.80 price target on shares of Grab in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Grab in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Benchmark restated a "buy" rating on shares of Grab in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Grab presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $6.67.

Insider Transactions at Grab

In related news, CEO Anthony Ping Yeow Tan sold 400,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 10th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,564,710.24. This trade represents a 48.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO John Pierantoni sold 14,819 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.61, for a total transaction of $53,496.59. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 569,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,055,447.36. The trade was a 2.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 452,819 shares of company stock valued at $1,663,057 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Grab by 42.2% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 115,817 shares of the company's stock worth $578,000 after buying an additional 34,393 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Grab by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 129,340 shares of the company's stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 2,665 shares in the last quarter. Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Grab during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new stake in shares of Grab during the 4th quarter worth about $506,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Grab by 624.7% during the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 7,522 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 6,484 shares in the last quarter. 55.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Grab Stock Performance

Shares of Grab stock traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $4.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 32,755,514 shares, compared to its average volume of 49,768,949. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $3.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.75. Grab has a one year low of $3.48 and a one year high of $6.62. The stock has a market cap of $16.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 135.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.99.

Grab (NASDAQ:GRAB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.03. Grab had a net margin of 7.92% and a return on equity of 4.09%. The company had revenue of $906.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $942.08 million. As a group, analysts expect that Grab will post 0.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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