Lyft, Inc. $LYFT Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management sharply cut its Lyft position by 85.7% in Q1, selling over 1.13 million shares and leaving it with 188,226 shares worth about $2.5 million.
• Despite mixed analyst moves, Wall Street’s overall view on Lyft remains Hold, with 13 Buy ratings, 21 Hold ratings, and 3 Sell ratings, and an average price target of $19.40.
• Lyft reported strong revenue growth in its latest quarter, with sales up 17.2% year over year to $1.65 billion, but earnings badly missed expectations at $0.04 EPS versus the $0.30 estimate.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its position in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT - Free Report) by 85.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 188,226 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock after selling 1,131,796 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Lyft were worth $2,503,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 7.4% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 25,783,363 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $567,492,000 after buying an additional 1,773,438 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Lyft by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 9,873,232 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $191,245,000 after buying an additional 1,320,938 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $109,987,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $108,472,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its stake in Lyft by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 5,054,610 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $97,908,000 after purchasing an additional 30,048 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on LYFT shares. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Lyft in a report on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Lyft from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Lyft from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $19.40.

Lyft Stock Performance

Shares of LYFT opened at $14.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.13, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.58. Lyft, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.46 and a 1 year high of $25.54. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $14.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.28.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.26). Lyft had a net margin of 43.82% and a negative return on equity of 2.09%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Lyft

In related news, Director Jill Beggs sold 2,093 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.76, for a total transaction of $28,799.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 30,092 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $414,065.92. This represents a 6.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 69,196 shares of company stock valued at $992,371 over the last quarter. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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