Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Grab Call Options (NASDAQ:GRAB)

Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GRAB) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 39,023 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 38% compared to the average volume of 28,379 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GRAB. Weiss Ratings cut Grab from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Zacks Research upgraded Grab from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $6.25 target price on shares of Grab in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays cut their price target on Grab from $7.00 to $5.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Grab in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Grab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.01.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Alexander Hungate sold 145,349 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.48, for a total transaction of $505,814.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 6,111,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,269,686.92. This trade represents a 2.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ping Tan sold 400,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.62, for a total transaction of $1,448,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 428,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,551,162.76. The trade was a 48.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,763,442 shares of company stock valued at $6,405,495. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Grab

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Grab in the 4th quarter valued at $161,484,000. PointState Capital LP boosted its position in shares of Grab by 411.1% in the fourth quarter. PointState Capital LP now owns 32,555,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,452,000 after acquiring an additional 26,186,329 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Grab by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 72,453,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $361,542,000 after acquiring an additional 23,891,108 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Grab by 58.0% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 54,906,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,957,000 after acquiring an additional 20,152,535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Grab by 24.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 79,797,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $480,383,000 after acquiring an additional 15,916,063 shares in the last quarter. 55.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Grab Stock Performance

GRAB traded down $0.17 on Wednesday, reaching $3.08. The company had a trading volume of 49,065,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 48,528,195. The stock has a market cap of $12.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.52. Grab has a fifty-two week low of $3.07 and a fifty-two week high of $6.62. The company’s fifty day moving average is $3.61 and its 200 day moving average is $3.68.

Grab (NASDAQ:GRAB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.01. Grab had a net margin of 15.97% and a return on equity of 8.83%. The firm had revenue of $997.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $994.97 million. As a group, analysts predict that Grab will post 0.13 earnings per share 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.