Plato Investment Management Ltd Takes Position in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,694 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LYFT. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lyft during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $90,604,000. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. raised its position in Lyft by 84.8% in the third quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 6,186,000 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $78,872,000 after purchasing an additional 2,838,000 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in Lyft by 7,536.2% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,854,823 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $23,927,000 after purchasing an additional 1,830,533 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in Lyft by 27.2% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 8,114,166 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $103,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,735,208 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Lyft in the third quarter valued at approximately $13,430,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lyft

In related news, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.34, for a total transaction of $152,222.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 297,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,970,517.60. This represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total transaction of $30,348.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 911,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,417,263.44. This represents a 0.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 15,407 shares of company stock worth $203,778. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Lyft Price Performance

Shares of LYFT opened at $12.36 on Thursday. Lyft, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.93 and a fifty-two week high of $20.82. The company has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 206.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.15. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.77. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.10). Lyft had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 0.39%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Lyft declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 purchase up to 8.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LYFT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Lyft from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Lyft from $16.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Lyft from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Benchmark raised Lyft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $18.00 price objective (down previously from $23.00) on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Twenty-six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.13.

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.