Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Lyft Call Options (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders bought 65,134 call options on the company. This is an increase of 42% compared to the average volume of 45,956 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LYFT. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Friday, October 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Lyft from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Lyft in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Melius Research initiated coverage on Lyft in a report on Monday, July 22nd. They set a “hold” rating and a $15.00 price objective for the company. Twenty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.23.

Lyft Price Performance

Shares of Lyft stock opened at $17.78 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $12.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.54. Lyft has a 12 month low of $8.93 and a 12 month high of $20.82.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.39 billion. Lyft had a negative return on equity of 1.67% and a negative net margin of 1.19%. The company’s revenue was up 40.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.14) EPS. Analysts expect that Lyft will post -0.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 8,486 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was 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 $8,988,544.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Lyft news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.32, for a total value of $27,439.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 929,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,523,502.16. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 Lyft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.76, for a total value of $99,795.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 764,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,988,544.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,664 shares of company stock valued at $380,048 over the last ninety days. 3.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lyft

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LYFT. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Lyft during the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in Lyft by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 39,613 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $767,000 after acquiring an additional 5,184 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Lyft by 48.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 78,609 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $1,521,000 after acquiring an additional 25,500 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Lyft by 24.4% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,557 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $320,000 after acquiring an additional 3,247 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Lyft in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,262,000. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.