Lyft Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 65,134 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 42% compared to the average volume of 45,956 call options.

Lyft Stock Performance

Shares of LYFT stock traded up $4.34 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $18.74. 20,496,783 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,810,744. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -114.88 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. Lyft has a 12-month low of $8.93 and a 12-month high of $20.82. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.50.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.39 billion. Lyft had a negative return on equity of 8.57% and a negative net margin of 1.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 40.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.14) earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Lyft will post -0.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Lyft

In other Lyft news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 8,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.76, for a total value of $99,795.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 764,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,988,544.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Lyft news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 8,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.76, for a total value of $99,795.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 764,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,988,544.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 7,188 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 932,062 shares in the company, valued at $10,625,506.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 32,664 shares of company stock valued at $380,048. 3.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LYFT. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Lyft by 592.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,424,349 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $27,562,000 after acquiring an additional 1,218,620 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Lyft by 27,739.2% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,192,910 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $16,665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,188,625 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Lyft by 39.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,870,599 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $40,475,000 after purchasing an additional 812,926 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Lyft by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,899,391 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $636,603,000 after purchasing an additional 782,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its position in Lyft by 600.2% during the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 608,430 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $11,767,000 after buying an additional 521,537 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LYFT shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Lyft from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Melius assumed coverage on shares of Lyft in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on Lyft from $20.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Lyft from $19.00 to $13.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on Lyft from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-seven have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lyft presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.13.

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.