Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Sells 2,325,549 Shares of Lyft, Inc. $LYFT

Key Points

• Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. reduced its stake in Lyft, Inc. by 24.9%, now holding approximately 7 million shares valued at $83.24 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and AQR Capital Management, increased their stakes in Lyft, with AQR's holdings up 103.3%.
• Lyft's stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" with a target price of $16.83, after recent analyst upgrades and downgrades.

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT - Free Report) by 24.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,012,673 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock after selling 2,325,549 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned 1.68% of Lyft worth $83,240,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of LYFT. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 81.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,756 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lyft during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new stake in shares of Lyft during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 79.9% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,982 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 1,769 shares in the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LYFT. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Lyft from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Lyft from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Lyft from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup restated a "hold" rating and set a $14.00 target price (down from $22.00) on shares of Lyft in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating and set a $16.00 target price (up from $15.00) on shares of Lyft in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $16.87.

Lyft Price Performance

NASDAQ LYFT traded up $0.68 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $18.39. 23,065,316 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,337,572. The stock has a market cap of $7.47 billion, a PE ratio of 76.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 2.33. Lyft, Inc. has a one year low of $9.66 and a one year high of $19.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $15.32 and a 200-day moving average of $14.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. Lyft had a return on equity of 14.32% and a net margin of 1.51%.The firm's revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.24 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 28,356 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.85, for a total transaction of $449,442.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 850,388 shares in the company, valued at $13,478,649.80. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.24, for a total value of $258,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 525,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,064,085.16. This trade represents a 2.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,821 shares of company stock worth $960,566 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

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.