Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Stake in Lyft, Inc. $LYFT

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Lyft by 5.7%, owning approximately 9.10% of the company with a valuation of $451.6 million after acquiring over 2 million shares.
• Lyft CEO John David Risher bought 6,538 shares at $15.29 each, raising his ownership to 11.79 million shares valued at about $180.3 million, while Director Jill Beggs sold 1,572 shares, reducing her position by 7.13%.
• Lyft recently experienced a 10.6% year-over-year increase in revenue to $1.59 billion, although it missed earnings expectations, reporting $0.10 EPS against an expected $0.27.

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT - Free Report) by 5.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,049,250 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,046,639 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.10% of Lyft worth $451,645,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,237 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new stake in Lyft during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lyft during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Lyft in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jill Beggs sold 1,572 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.41, for a total transaction of $25,796.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,467 shares of the company's stock, valued at $335,863.47. This trade represents a 7.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO John David Risher bought 6,538 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $15.29 per share, for a total transaction of $99,966.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,791,340 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $180,289,588.60. This trade represents a 0.06% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LYFT shares. Tigress Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $28.00 price target (up previously from $26.00) on shares of Lyft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Lyft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Lyft from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Lyft from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $16.00 price objective (up previously 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-two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $16.70.

Lyft Stock Down 2.0%

LYFT traded down $0.3240 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $15.6960. 9,007,261 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,099,273. The company has a market cap of $6.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 2.26. The company's fifty day moving average price is $14.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.79. Lyft, Inc. has a one year low of $9.66 and a one year high of $19.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.24 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.22 EPS for the current 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.