Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 65,096 call options on the company. This is an increase of 24% compared to the typical volume of 52,308 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LYFT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Lyft from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Benchmark raised shares of Lyft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $20.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Susquehanna cut their target price on Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wedbush decreased their price target on Lyft from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Lyft from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Twenty-six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lyft has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $17.22.

Lyft Price Performance

Shares of LYFT stock traded down $0.68 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $12.66. The stock had a trading volume of 17,574,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,405,838. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $13.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.29 billion, a PE ratio of 211.00, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.16. Lyft has a 12 month low of $8.93 and a 12 month high of $20.82.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.10). Lyft had a net margin of 0.39% and a return on equity of 8.03%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current year.

Lyft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 11th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the ride-sharing company to reacquire up to 8.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lyft news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total transaction of $30,348.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 911,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,417,263.44. This trade represents a 0.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Lyft by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,493 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $316,000 after buying an additional 903 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 28,454 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its position in Lyft by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 16,023 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $207,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd increased its stake in Lyft by 2.5% in the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 42,203 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $538,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Lyft by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 41,539 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $536,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.