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

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 57,454 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 32% compared to the average volume of 43,519 call options.

Lyft Stock Up 2.7 %

Lyft stock opened at $13.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.77 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $12.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.91. Lyft has a 52 week low of $8.85 and a 52 week high of $20.82.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.39 billion. Lyft had a negative net margin of 1.27% and a negative return on equity of 8.57%. The business’s revenue was up 40.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.14) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Lyft will post -0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lyft

In other Lyft news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 7,188 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.40, for a total value of $81,943.20. Following the sale, the director now owns 932,062 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,625,506.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 8,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.76, for a total transaction of $99,795.36. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 764,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,988,544.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 7,188 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.40, for a total transaction of $81,943.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 932,062 shares in the company, valued at $10,625,506.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,664 shares of company stock valued at $380,048 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 15.1% in the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 39,613 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $767,000 after buying an additional 5,184 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 2.0% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 683,100 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $13,218,000 after buying an additional 13,300 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lyft in the first quarter worth about $470,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft during the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 430.9% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 3,886 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 3,154 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LYFT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Lyft from $20.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.68.

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.