Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 83,415 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 80% compared to the typical volume of 46,249 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on LYFT shares. Barclays lowered their target price on Lyft from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Lyft from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Lyft in a report on Monday, March 17th. Twenty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lyft presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.03.

Lyft Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of Lyft stock opened at $12.27 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $13.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Lyft has a twelve month low of $8.93 and a twelve month high of $19.96. The stock has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 204.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.15.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 0.39% and a return on equity of 8.03%. Equities research analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Lyft

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lyft

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Lyft by 282.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,623,227 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $111,240,000 after acquiring an additional 6,365,727 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in Lyft by 828.5% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,662,535 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $85,947,000 after buying an additional 5,945,000 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in Lyft by 156.9% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 8,025,099 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $103,524,000 after buying an additional 4,901,358 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Lyft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,599,000. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Lyft by 84.8% in the 3rd quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 6,186,000 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $78,872,000 after acquiring an additional 2,838,000 shares in the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.