Lyft Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 73,207 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 81% compared to the average daily volume of 40,436 call options.

Lyft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LYFT opened at $13.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.66 billion, a PE ratio of -85.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 2.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $15.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.42. Lyft has a 12 month low of $8.93 and a 12 month high of $20.82.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.09. Lyft had a negative net margin of 1.19% and a negative return on equity of 1.58%. The company had revenue of $1.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.02) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Logan Green sold 10,919 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.25, for a total value of $188,352.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 314,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,424,987. This trade represents a 3.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lisa Blackwood-Kapral sold 9,081 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.02, for a total transaction of $163,639.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 332,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,987,018.86. This trade represents a 2.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,242 shares of company stock worth $427,330 over the last 90 days. 3.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Lyft in the 2nd quarter worth about $388,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 3rd quarter worth $423,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Lyft in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,349,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Lyft in the third quarter worth approximately $716,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lyft by 300.9% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 69,697 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $983,000 after acquiring an additional 52,311 shares during the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Lyft from $14.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Lyft from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Lyft from $16.50 to $18.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Lyft from $10.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Lyft from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Twenty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.77.

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.