Investors Buy High Volume of Lyft Call Options (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Key Points

• On Monday, investors expressed strong interest in Lyft by purchasing 122,556 call options, a significant increase of 103% compared to the typical daily volume.
• Lyft's share price rose to $22.10 amid mid-day trading, with a trading volume of over 9 million shares, indicating notable market activity.
• Despite recording a 10.6% year-over-year revenue growth, Lyft's latest earnings fell short of analysts' expectations, reporting $0.10 EPS compared to the anticipated $0.27.

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Investors acquired 122,556 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 103% compared to the typical daily volume of 60,320 call options.

Lyft Stock Performance

Shares of LYFT traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $22.10. The stock had a trading volume of 9,291,185 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,982,564. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $17.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.29. Lyft has a 52 week low of $9.66 and a 52 week high of $23.50. 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 cap of $8.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.73, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 2.40.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.17). The business 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%.Lyft's revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.24 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lyft

In related news, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.24, for a total transaction of $258,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 525,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,064,085.16. This represents a 2.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John David Risher bought 5,926 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $16.88 per share, for a total transaction of $100,030.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,797,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,137,850.08. This represents a 0.05% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 74,427 shares of company stock worth $1,252,686. Insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lyft

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 5.7% in 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. lifted its stake in shares of Lyft by 26.3% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 24,849,205 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $294,978,000 after buying an additional 5,178,118 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Lyft by 144.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 24,009,925 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $378,396,000 after acquiring an additional 14,205,143 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Group Inc. purchased a new position in Lyft during the first quarter valued at $130,434,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,633,591 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $104,561,000 after purchasing an additional 20,354 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on LYFT shares. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Lyft from $11.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Lyft from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Lyft from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Lyft from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Lyft in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $19.02.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.