West Tower Group LLC Raises Position in Lyft, Inc. $LYFT

West Tower Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) by 207.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 138,432 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock after acquiring an additional 93,432 shares during the period. Lyft comprises approximately 5.7% of West Tower Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. West Tower Group LLC’s holdings in Lyft were worth $1,841,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Lyft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $109,987,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $108,472,000. Contour Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lyft in the fourth quarter valued at $75,870,000. Prevatt Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Lyft in the first quarter valued at $25,270,000. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its position in Lyft by 2,441.2% in the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 1,857,593 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $35,982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,784,494 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.59, for a total transaction of $203,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 705,979 shares in the company, valued at $9,594,254.61. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 11,491 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total value of $172,365.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 853,731 shares in the company, valued at $12,805,965. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 69,196 shares of company stock valued at $992,371 over the last quarter. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on LYFT shares. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Lyft from $19.00 to $14.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Lyft from $22.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Lyft in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Lyft in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lyft has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.40.

Lyft Stock Performance

Lyft stock opened at $15.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Lyft, Inc. has a 1-year low of $12.46 and a 1-year high of $25.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.80. The company’s 50-day moving average is $14.11 and its 200 day moving average is $15.12.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. Lyft had a net margin of 43.82% and a negative return on equity of 2.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.01 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Lyft Company Profile

Lyft, Inc (NASDAQ: LYFT) operates a peer-to-peer ridesharing platform that connects passengers with drivers through a mobile application. Since its founding in 2012, the company has expanded beyond traditional ride-hailing to include bike and electric scooter rentals, while also offering rental cars and public transit options in select markets. Lyft’s platform uses GPS mapping and dynamic pricing algorithms to optimize driver-passenger matches and route efficiency.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Lyft primarily serves urban and suburban markets across the United States and Canada.