Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes $950,000 Position in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 73,618 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock, valued at approximately $950,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LYFT. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Lyft during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Lyft during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 259.7% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,770 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Friday, May 9th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Lyft from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays raised their price target on Lyft from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Lyft from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.56.

Lyft Stock Performance

Shares of Lyft stock opened at $16.23 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $12.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 270.50, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.14. Lyft, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.93 and a 52 week high of $19.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.19). Lyft had a net margin of 0.39% and a return on equity of 8.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.15 EPS. Lyft’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.22 EPS for the current year.

Lyft declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, February 11th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the ride-sharing company to reacquire up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Lyft

In other Lyft news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 22,736 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.45, for a total transaction of $283,063.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 959,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,948,227.65. This represents a 2.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.34, for a total value of $152,222.74. Following the transaction, the director now owns 297,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,970,517.60. This trade represents a 3.69% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,143 shares of company stock worth $486,841 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

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.