Lyft Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 73,207 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 81% compared to the average daily volume of 40,436 call options.

Lyft Stock Up 4.5 %

Shares of LYFT stock opened at $14.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. Lyft has a fifty-two week low of $8.93 and a fifty-two week high of $20.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a PE ratio of -89.19, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 2.09. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.42.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.09. Lyft had a negative net margin of 1.19% and a negative return on equity of 1.58%. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.02) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Lyft will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lyft news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 4,242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.76, for a total value of $75,337.92. Following the sale, the insider now owns 755,847 shares in the company, valued at $13,423,842.72. The trade was a 0.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Logan Green sold 10,919 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.25, for a total value of $188,352.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 314,492 shares in the company, valued at $5,424,987. This trade represents a 3.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 24,242 shares of company stock worth $427,330. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in Lyft in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Lyft in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new stake in Lyft in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Lyft during the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Lyft by 4,032.6% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,554 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 3,468 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on LYFT shares. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Lyft from $16.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Lyft from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Lyft from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Lyft from $11.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Twenty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lyft currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.77.

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.