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

Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GRAB) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 44,246 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 565% compared to the typical volume of 6,656 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on GRAB shares. HSBC restated a “buy” rating and set a $4.30 price target on shares of Grab in a report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Grab from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $3.60 to $3.80 in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Grab from $4.50 to $4.30 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $5.10.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Grab

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Grab by 50.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 108,322,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $379,128,000 after acquiring an additional 36,542,740 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Grab by 43.9% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 86,981,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,346,000 after buying an additional 26,535,098 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Grab during the fourth quarter valued at about $146,995,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Grab by 21,204.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 37,301,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,048,000 after buying an additional 37,126,838 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Grab by 40.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,332,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,761,000 after buying an additional 9,902,862 shares during the period. 55.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Grab Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GRAB traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $3.39. 28,756,732 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,555,010. Grab has a 52 week low of $2.67 and a 52 week high of $3.92. The company has a current ratio of 3.90, a quick ratio of 3.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $3.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3.23.

Grab (NASDAQ:GRAB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $653.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $633.82 million. Grab had a negative return on equity of 6.77% and a negative net margin of 18.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.10) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Grab will post 0.01 earnings per share for the current year.

About Grab

Grab Holdings Limited engages in the provision of superapps in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The company offers its Grab ecosystem, a single platform with superapps for driver- and merchant-partners and consumers, that allows access to mobility, delivery, digital financial services, and enterprise sector offerings.