Lyft Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 89,418 call options on the stock. Thisisanincreaseofapproximately105% compared to the average daily volume of 43,600 call options.

Insider Transactions at Lyft

In other Lyft news, CEO John David Risher purchased 6,538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.29 per share, with a total value of $99,966.02. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 11,791,340 shares in the company, valued at $180,289,588.60. This trade represents a 0.06% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jill Beggs sold 1,572 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.41, for a total value of $25,796.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $335,863.47. The trade was a 7.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in Lyft by 162.6% in the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,943 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,203 shares during the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in Lyft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Lyft by 81.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,756 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Lyft by 1,242.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 2,161 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Lyft Stock Performance

Shares of LYFT stock opened at $15.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.70. Lyft has a fifty-two week low of $9.66 and a fifty-two week high of $19.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $14.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.77. The firm has a market cap of $6.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.92, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 2.26.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.17). Lyft had a return on equity of 14.32% and a net margin of 1.51%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Lyft will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LYFT. UBS Group upped their price objective on Lyft from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Tigress Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective (up previously from $26.00) on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Lyft from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays upped their target price on Lyft from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $14.00 target price (down from $22.00) on shares of Lyft in a report on Friday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.70.

Lyft Company Profile

Lyft, Inc operates a peer-to-peer marketplace for on-demand ridesharing in the United States and Canada. It operates multimodal transportation networks that offer access to various transportation options through the Lyft platform and mobile-based applications. The company's platform provides a ridesharing marketplace, which connects drivers with riders; Express Drive, a car rental program for drivers; and a network of shared bikes and scooters in various cities to address the needs of riders for short trips.