Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes Position in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 73,618 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock, valued at approximately $950,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LYFT. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Lyft during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Lyft during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 259.7% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,770 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lyft in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LYFT. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Bank of America downgraded Lyft from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $10.50 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Lyft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Lyft from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $16.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total value of $30,348.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 911,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,417,263.44. This trade represents a 0.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.34, for a total transaction of $152,222.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 297,640 shares in the company, valued at $3,970,517.60. This trade represents a 3.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 38,143 shares of company stock worth $486,841. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lyft Stock Down 0.1%

LYFT traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $16.76. 10,478,132 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,196,739. Lyft, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.93 and a fifty-two week high of $19.07. The company has a market cap of $7.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 279.33, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $12.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.71.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.19). Lyft had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 0.39%. The business had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lyft announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the ride-sharing company to purchase up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Lyft 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.