West Tower Group LLC Raises Holdings in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)

West Tower Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) by 53.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 63,000 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,000 shares during the quarter. Lyft accounts for approximately 1.8% of West Tower Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. West Tower Group LLC’s holdings in Lyft were worth $813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in Lyft in the third quarter worth $27,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Lyft in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Lyft in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Lyft in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Lyft in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 83.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lyft

In other Lyft news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 911,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,417,263.44. This represents a 0.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the director now owns 297,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,970,517.60. The trade was a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 15,407 shares of company stock worth $203,778. Insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Lyft Stock Down 4.2 %

LYFT opened at $11.53 on Wednesday. Lyft, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.93 and a twelve month high of $20.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $13.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.80. The company has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a PE ratio of 192.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.15.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last released its quarterly 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lyft announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the ride-sharing company to reacquire up to 8.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LYFT has been the subject of several research reports. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Benchmark raised shares of Lyft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group dropped 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. Twenty-six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lyft has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.03.

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.