Lyft Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors purchased 57,454 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 32% compared to the average daily volume of 43,519 call options.

Lyft Price Performance

LYFT stock opened at $13.99 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.77 and a beta of 2.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $12.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Lyft has a 12-month low of $8.85 and a 12-month high of $20.82.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.05. Lyft had a negative return on equity of 8.57% and a negative net margin of 1.27%. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.14) EPS. Lyft’s revenue was up 40.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lyft will post -0.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 7,188 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.40, for a total value of $81,943.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 932,062 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,625,506.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 7,188 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.40, for a total value of $81,943.20. Following the sale, the director now owns 932,062 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,625,506.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 8,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.76, for a total value of $99,795.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 764,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,988,544.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,664 shares of company stock valued at $380,048 in the last ninety days. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Lyft by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,116,655 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $481,429,000 after buying an additional 659,133 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,302,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Lyft by 42.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Lyft in the first quarter worth $470,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LYFT. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Lyft from $19.00 to $13.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Nomura raised Lyft from a “reduce” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $15.00 to $13.00 in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Wedbush reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Lyft in a research report on Friday. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Lyft from $20.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lyft presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.68.

About Lyft

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.