Sterling Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) by 22.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 10,751 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock after buying an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Lyft were worth $139,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Lyft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Lyft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lyft by 259.7% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,770 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Lyft in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Lyft in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Lyft from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $18.00 price target (down previously from $23.00) on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Benchmark raised shares of Lyft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-seven have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.45.

Lyft Price Performance

NASDAQ LYFT opened at $10.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 182.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.76. The business’s fifty day moving average is $11.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.65. Lyft, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.93 and a 1 year high of $19.07.

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 return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 0.39%. On average, research analysts forecast that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lyft declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the ride-sharing company to buy up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lyft

In other news, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.34, for a total transaction of $152,222.74. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 297,640 shares in the company, valued at $3,970,517.60. The trade was a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total value of $30,348.48. Following the sale, the director now owns 911,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,417,263.44. This represents a 0.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,407 shares of company stock valued at $203,778 in the last three months. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.