Marshall Wace LLP Increases Stake in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) by 274.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,959,267 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,169,255 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Lyft were worth $38,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Lyft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,332,000. Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 939.9% in the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 1,827,323 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $23,572,000 after buying an additional 1,651,604 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 16,023 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd grew its holdings in Lyft by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 47,791 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $617,000 after acquiring an additional 5,588 shares during the period. Finally, Mariner LLC raised its position in Lyft by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 18,916 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,479 shares in the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lyft

In related news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $11,417,263.44. The trade was a 0.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 ownership of the stock. 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 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Lyft Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of LYFT opened at $11.16 on Friday. Lyft, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.93 and a fifty-two week high of $19.07. The company’s fifty day moving average is $12.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.65. The firm has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a PE ratio of 186.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

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

Lyft announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 11th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the ride-sharing company to repurchase up to 8.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LYFT. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Lyft from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Lyft from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Lyft in a research note on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-seven have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lyft currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.45.

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.