Northern Trust Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in Lyft, Inc. $LYFT

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Lyft by 1.5%, now owning approximately 1,980,398 shares valued at $23.5 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Insider trading activity included CFO Erin Brewer selling 15,000 shares for $228,600, and insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn selling 28,356 shares for $449,442.60, indicating significant movements among top executives.
• Wall Street analysts are optimistic about Lyft's prospects, with several upgrading the stock to "strong-buy" and raising target prices, despite the company missing earnings estimates for the latest quarter.

Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT - Free Report) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,980,398 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock after purchasing an additional 28,762 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.47% of Lyft worth $23,507,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LYFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lyft by 5.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,049,250 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $451,645,000 after acquiring an additional 2,046,639 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lyft by 15.1% in 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. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position in 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 worth $103,524,000 after acquiring an additional 4,901,358 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in Lyft by 828.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,945,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Lyft during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,143,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LYFT. Citigroup reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $14.00 price target (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Lyft in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Lyft from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Lyft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $20.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Lyft from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $16.83.

Lyft Stock Performance

LYFT traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $16.92. 50,734,020 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,306,713. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $15.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 2.33. Lyft, Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.66 and a 1-year high of $19.07.

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

Insider Transactions at Lyft

In related news, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.24, for a total value of $228,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 540,759 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,241,167.16. The trade was a 2.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 28,356 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider owned 850,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,478,649.80. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 44,821 shares of company stock valued at $701,966 in the last ninety days. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.