Private Capital Management LLC Takes $159,000 Position in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Private Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 12,500 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lyft by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,493 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 903 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Lyft during the 4th quarter worth about $176,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Lyft by 7,536.2% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,854,823 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $23,927,000 after acquiring an additional 1,830,533 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Lyft by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,878,369 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $50,031,000 after acquiring an additional 981,186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Lyft by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 87,600 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $1,130,000 after purchasing an additional 13,200 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on LYFT shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $18.00 price target (down from $23.00) on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Lyft from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Lyft from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Twenty-six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.22.

Lyft Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Lyft stock opened at $13.02 on Friday. Lyft, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.93 and a 1 year high of $20.82. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.68. The company has a market cap of $5.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 217.00, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.10). Lyft had a net margin of 0.39% and a return on equity of 8.03%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.22 EPS for the current year.

Lyft announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, February 11th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the ride-sharing company to reacquire up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Lyft

In other news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total transaction of $30,348.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 911,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,417,263.44. The trade was a 0.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.