Lyft Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Key Points

• Lyft experienced a significant increase in options trading, with 65,546 call options traded, marking a 36% increase from its average daily volume.
• The company's stock price rose by $0.56 to reach $17.36, while its trading volume exceeded average levels at 23,029,457 shares.
• Lyft reported earnings of $0.10 per share, missing expectations and showing a year-over-year revenue increase of 10.6%, prompting analysts to adjust ratings and price targets.

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 65,546 call options on the stock. Thisisanincreaseofapproximately36% compared to the average daily volume of 48,248 call options.

Lyft Stock Performance

LYFT stock traded up $0.56 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $17.36. 23,029,457 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,136,494. Lyft has a twelve month low of $9.66 and a twelve month high of $19.07. The company has a market capitalization of $7.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 2.33. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $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.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LYFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $16.00 price target (up from $15.00) on shares of Lyft in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Lyft from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Lyft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $20.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. TD Cowen upgraded Lyft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $16.00 to $21.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $14.00 price objective (down from $22.00) on shares of Lyft in a report on Friday, June 27th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $16.83.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 28,356 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.85, for a total value of $449,442.60. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 540,759 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,241,167.16. This represents a 2.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 44,821 shares of company stock valued at $701,966 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. 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 acquiring an additional 2,046,639 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Lyft by 26.3% in 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 last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Lyft by 144.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 24,009,925 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $378,396,000 after purchasing an additional 14,205,143 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Group Inc. bought a new position in Lyft in the 1st quarter worth approximately $130,434,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in 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 last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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