Alyeska Investment Group L.P. Lowers Stock Position in Lyft, Inc. $LYFT

Key Points

• Alyeska Investment Group L.P. has cut its stake in Lyft, Inc. by 50%, now owning approximately 0.21% of the company valued at $10.2 million after selling 859,907 shares in the first quarter.
• Insider selling activity includes 28,356 shares sold by Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn and 15,000 shares sold by CFO Erin Brewer, indicating a decrease in insider ownership.
• Analysts' ratings for Lyft show a mixed outlook, with some upgrades and downgrades, resulting in a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average target price of $16.83.

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lowered its stake in shares of Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT - Free Report) by 50.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 859,907 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock after selling 859,907 shares during the quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. owned about 0.21% of Lyft worth $10,207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Group Inc. purchased a new position in Lyft during the first quarter valued at approximately $130,434,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in shares of Lyft by 828.5% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,662,535 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $85,947,000 after buying an additional 5,945,000 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Lyft by 26.3% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 24,849,205 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $294,978,000 after buying an additional 5,178,118 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in shares of Lyft by 156.9% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 8,025,099 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $103,524,000 after buying an additional 4,901,358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Lyft by 83,744.1% in the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,144,991 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $37,331,000 after buying an additional 3,141,240 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on LYFT. TD Cowen upgraded Lyft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $16.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Lyft from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Lyft from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $16.00 price target (up from $15.00) on shares of Lyft in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Lyft from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lyft presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $16.87.

Lyft Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of LYFT traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $18.92. The stock had a trading volume of 12,592,507 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,298,680. The firm has a market cap of $7.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.70. Lyft, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.66 and a twelve month high of $19.35.

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

Insider Transactions at Lyft

In related news, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.24, for a total value of $258,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 525,759 shares in the company, valued at $9,064,085.16. This trade represents a 2.77% 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, CEO John David Risher acquired 5,926 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $16.88 per share, for a total transaction of $100,030.88. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,797,266 shares of the company's stock, valued at $199,137,850.08. This represents a 0.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 59,821 shares of company stock valued at $960,566. 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.