Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 129,866 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 99% compared to the typical daily volume of 65,212 call options.

Lyft Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LYFT traded down $0.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $16.22. The company had a trading volume of 6,600,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,681,344. The company has a market capitalization of $6.48 billion, a PE ratio of -18.36 and a beta of 1.98. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $17.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.99. 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.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The ride-sharing company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.19) by $0.14. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. Lyft had a negative net margin of 7.73% and a negative return on equity of 54.80%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lyft will post -0.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Lyft

In related news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 193,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.04, for a total value of $3,871,728.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 932,544 shares in the company, valued at $18,688,181.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Lyft news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 193,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.04, for a total transaction of $3,871,728.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 932,544 shares in the company, valued at $18,688,181.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, President Kristin Sverchek sold 5,670 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total transaction of $85,163.40. Following the sale, the president now owns 633,950 shares in the company, valued at $9,521,929. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 270,526 shares of company stock worth $5,195,771. Corporate insiders own 3.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Lyft during the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. increased its stake in Lyft by 62.1% during the 1st quarter. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. now owns 529,300 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $10,242,000 after purchasing an additional 202,700 shares in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Lyft during the 1st quarter valued at $470,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Lyft by 42.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in Lyft during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on LYFT shares. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Lyft in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Lyft from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Lyft from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Lyft from $17.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of Lyft from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.60.

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.