Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires New Holdings in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new position in shares of Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 122,090 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,830,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 685.2% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,916 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 1,672 shares during the period. Gables Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lyft by 129.0% during the third quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,550 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its position in shares of Lyft by 77.5% in the third quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 3,588 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,567 shares during the last quarter. EMC Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Lyft by 283.4% in the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 5,000 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 3,696 shares during the period. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lyft during the 3rd quarter worth about $60,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

Lyft Price Performance

Shares of Lyft stock opened at $17.78 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.98 and a beta of 2.05. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $17.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. Lyft, Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.85 and a 1-year high of $20.82.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The ride-sharing company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.19) by $0.14. Lyft had a negative return on equity of 54.80% and a negative net margin of 7.73%. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Lyft, Inc. will post -0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Lyft

In related news, President Kristin Sverchek sold 5,670 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total value of $85,163.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 633,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,521,929. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 15,724 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.51, for a total transaction of $275,327.24. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,204,071 shares in the company, valued at $21,083,283.21. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Kristin Sverchek sold 5,670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total value of $85,163.40. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 633,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,521,929. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 280,526 shares of company stock worth $5,358,031. Insiders own 3.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Lyft from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Lyft from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Lyft from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Lyft from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $12.00 to $15.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Lyft from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.52.

About Lyft

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.