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

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors acquired 129,866 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 99% compared to the typical daily volume of 65,212 call options.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Lisa Blackwood-Kapral sold 18,065 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.06, for a total value of $290,123.90. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 255,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,108,421.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, President Kristin Sverchek sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.51, for a total transaction of $61,285.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 96,978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,698,084.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lisa Blackwood-Kapral sold 18,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.06, for a total transaction of $290,123.90. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 255,817 shares in the company, valued at $4,108,421.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 270,526 shares of company stock valued at $5,195,771 over the last ninety days. 3.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LYFT. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Lyft by 685.2% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,916 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,672 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Lyft by 42.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. a16z Perennial Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Lyft Stock Down 3.4 %

NASDAQ:LYFT opened at $16.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Lyft has a one year low of $7.85 and a one year high of $20.82. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.06. The company has a market cap of $6.46 billion, a PE ratio of -18.15 and a beta of 1.98.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The ride-sharing company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.14. Lyft had a negative net margin of 7.73% and a negative return on equity of 54.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lyft will post -0.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LYFT. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Lyft from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Lyft from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of Lyft from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $15.00 price objective (up from $14.00) on shares of Lyft in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Lyft from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lyft currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.60.

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.