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

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 128,895 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 146% compared to the average volume of 52,365 call options.

Insider Activity at Lyft

In related news, President Kristin Sverchek sold 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.77, for a total value of $102,505.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 54,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $855,964.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Lyft news, President Kristin Sverchek sold 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.77, for a total transaction of $102,505.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 54,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $855,964.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 7,923 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.54, for a total value of $131,046.42. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 924,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,293,231.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 33,333 shares of company stock valued at $518,714. 3.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lyft in the fourth quarter worth $645,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in Lyft by 685.2% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,916 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,672 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Lyft by 1,142.3% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 376,202 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $5,639,000 after purchasing an additional 345,919 shares during the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft in the fourth quarter worth $1,351,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in Lyft by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,190 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 1,093 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on LYFT shares. Loop Capital raised Lyft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, June 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on shares of Lyft in a report on Friday, June 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Lyft from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Bank of America raised shares of Lyft from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $15.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Melius initiated coverage on shares of Lyft in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $15.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lyft has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.04.

Lyft Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of LYFT stock traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $10.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 27,573,904 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,414,222. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92. Lyft has a 12-month low of $8.85 and a 12-month high of $20.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of -23.06 and a beta of 2.06.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The ride-sharing company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. Lyft had a negative return on equity of 23.77% and a negative net margin of 3.94%. On average, research analysts predict that Lyft will post -0.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lyft Company Profile

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.