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

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 73,207 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 81% compared to the typical volume of 40,436 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lyft

In other news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 4,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.76, for a total value of $75,337.92. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 755,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,423,842.72. This represents a 0.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lisa Blackwood-Kapral sold 9,081 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.02, for a total value of $163,639.62. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 332,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,987,018.86. The trade was a 2.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,242 shares of company stock worth $427,330 in the last three months. 3.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LYFT. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lyft during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Lyft in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Quarry LP increased its stake in Lyft by 4,032.6% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,554 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 3,468 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Susquehanna upped their price target on Lyft from $10.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Lyft from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Lyft from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Lyft in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Twenty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.77.

Lyft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LYFT opened at $14.27 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 company has a market cap of $5.92 billion, a PE ratio of -89.19, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 2.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $15.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.42. Lyft has a 1-year low of $8.93 and a 1-year high of $20.82.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm 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) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.08 EPS for the current year.

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.