Magnetar Financial LLC Makes New Investment in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 58,199 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock, valued at approximately $751,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LYFT. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Lyft by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 398,880 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $5,146,000 after purchasing an additional 49,138 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Lyft by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,408,466 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $121,369,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302,248 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Lyft in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,681,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Lyft by 354.9% in the fourth 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. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Lyft by 33.9% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 981,186 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lyft

In other Lyft news, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was 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 owns 297,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,970,517.60. The trade was a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 0.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 15,407 shares of company stock valued at $203,778. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on Lyft from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on Lyft from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Roth Capital reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Benchmark raised Lyft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Twenty-six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lyft presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.03.

Lyft Stock Performance

Shares of LYFT opened at $11.98 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $13.05 and a 200-day moving average of $13.77. Lyft, Inc. has a one year low of $8.93 and a one year high of $20.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a PE ratio of 199.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.15.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 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, equities research analysts predict that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lyft declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the ride-sharing company to buy up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.