Marshall Wace LLP Increases Stake in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) by 274.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,959,267 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,169,255 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.71% of Lyft worth $38,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Lyft by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 398,880 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $5,146,000 after buying an additional 49,138 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,408,466 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $121,369,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302,248 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter worth about $1,681,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Lyft by 282.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,623,227 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $111,240,000 after acquiring an additional 6,365,727 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Lyft by 354.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 266,185 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $3,434,000 after purchasing an additional 207,672 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lyft news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of Lyft 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 transaction, the director now owns 911,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,417,263.44. The trade was a 0.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.34, for a total value of $152,222.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 297,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,970,517.60. The trade was a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,407 shares of company stock worth $203,778 in the last ninety days. 3.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lyft Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ LYFT opened at $11.16 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $12.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.65. The company has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 186.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.13. Lyft, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.93 and a 1 year high of $19.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LYFT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Lyft from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Lyft in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Lyft in a research note on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $15.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Lyft from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-seven have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.45.

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.