Murchinson Ltd. Makes New Investment in Lyft, Inc. $LYFT

Key Points

• Murchinson Ltd. has acquired a new stake in Lyft, purchasing 299,900 shares valued at approximately $3.56 million, making it the company's 23rd largest position.
• Multiple hedge funds, including PNC Financial Services and Maxi Investments CY Ltd, have recently increased their holdings in Lyft, with institutional investors now owning 83.07% of the company's stock.
• Lyft reported a missed earnings estimate with an EPS of $0.10 against a consensus of $0.27, and its stock currently holds a consensus rating of "Hold" with a target price of $16.87.

Murchinson Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 299,900 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock, valued at approximately $3,560,000. Lyft accounts for 0.2% of Murchinson Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Murchinson Ltd. owned about 0.07% of Lyft as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Lyft by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,049,250 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $451,645,000 after purchasing an additional 2,046,639 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Lyft by 26.3% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 24,849,205 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $294,978,000 after purchasing an additional 5,178,118 shares during the period. Rakuten Group Inc. purchased a new position in Lyft during the 1st quarter worth $130,434,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Lyft by 103.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,804,782 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $110,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,980,876 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lyft by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 9,338,222 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $120,463,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,056 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on LYFT. TD Cowen raised Lyft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $16.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Lyft from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Lyft from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $16.00 target price (up previously from $15.00) on shares of Lyft in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Lyft from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $17.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lyft

In related news, CEO John David Risher acquired 5,926 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $16.88 per share, for a total transaction of $100,030.88. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 11,797,266 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $199,137,850.08. This represents a 0.05% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 28,356 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.85, for a total value of $449,442.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 850,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,478,649.80. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 59,821 shares of company stock worth $960,566. Insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Lyft Stock Performance

LYFT traded down $0.37 on Thursday, reaching $18.59. 8,264,526 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,328,748. The company's 50-day moving average price is $15.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.14. Lyft, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.66 and a fifty-two week high of $19.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.56 billion, a PE ratio of 77.42, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 2.33.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) last issued 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). Lyft had a return on equity of 14.32% and a net margin of 1.51%.The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.24 EPS. The business's revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.