Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Makes New $1.37 Million Investment in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 106,300 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,370,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Lyft by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 398,880 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $5,146,000 after buying an additional 49,138 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lyft by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,408,466 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $121,369,000 after buying an additional 2,302,248 shares during the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,681,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Lyft by 354.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 266,185 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $3,434,000 after buying an additional 207,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Lyft by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,878,369 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $50,031,000 after buying an additional 981,186 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total transaction of $30,348.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 911,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,417,263.44. The trade was a 0.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.34, for a total value of $152,222.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 297,640 shares in the company, valued at $3,970,517.60. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,407 shares of company stock valued at $203,778 in the last quarter. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LYFT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Lyft from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Lyft from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group cut their target price on Lyft from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays cut their target price on Lyft from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Wedbush cut their target price on Lyft from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Twenty-six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.13.

Lyft Price Performance

NASDAQ:LYFT opened at $11.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.78. The stock has a market cap of $4.98 billion, a PE ratio of 198.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.15. Lyft, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.93 and a 52 week high of $20.82.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.10). Lyft had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 0.39%. As a group, analysts forecast that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lyft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the ride-sharing company to buy up to 8.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.