Lyft Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Key Points

• Lyft saw a significant increase in options trading, with investors purchasing 322,281 call options, a surge of 466% compared to the average daily volume.
• The company's quarterly earnings report indicated an EPS of $0.10, missing expectations by $0.17, while revenue was up 10.6% year-over-year.
• Insider trading activity included the CFO selling 15,000 shares, while the CEO acquired 5,926 shares, indicating mixed sentiment among company executives.

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 322,281 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 466% compared to the typical daily volume of 56,930 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on LYFT shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $18.30.

Lyft Stock Performance

Shares of Lyft stock traded up $0.62 during trading on Friday, reaching $22.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 28,599,235 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,640,958. The business's 50-day moving average price is $16.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.56. The firm has a market cap of $9.18 billion, a PE ratio of 94.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 2.33. Lyft has a 52 week low of $9.66 and a 52 week high of $23.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.17). Lyft had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 14.32%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.24 EPS. The company's revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 28,356 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.85, for a total transaction of $449,442.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 850,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,478,649.80. The trade was a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John David Risher bought 5,926 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $16.88 per share, for a total transaction of $100,030.88. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 11,797,266 shares of the company's stock, valued at $199,137,850.08. The trade was a 0.05% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lyft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LYFT. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in Lyft by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 35,481 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $458,000 after purchasing an additional 1,649 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Lyft by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 181,111 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $2,335,000 after purchasing an additional 6,649 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Lyft by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,458,557 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $18,815,000 after purchasing an additional 109,434 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Lyft during the fourth quarter worth about $157,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank bought a new stake in Lyft during the fourth quarter worth about $279,000. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company's stock.

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.