DA Davidson Has Lowered Expectations for Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Stock Price

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its price objective dropped by equities research analysts at DA Davidson from $16.00 to $15.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock. DA Davidson’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 11.05% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also commented on the company. Loop Capital increased their price objective on Lyft from $16.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Benchmark upgraded Lyft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. 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. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Lyft in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Lyft from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Twenty-seven 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.31.

Lyft Stock Down 6.1 %

Shares of LYFT traded down $0.88 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $13.51. 60,162,963 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,771,184. Lyft has a 1 year low of $8.93 and a 1 year high of $20.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $14.00 and its 200-day moving average is $13.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -84.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.16.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.10). Lyft had a negative net margin of 1.19% and a negative return on equity of 1.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lyft will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lyft news, Director Logan Green sold 10,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.25, for a total transaction of $188,352.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 314,492 shares in the company, valued at $5,424,987. This represents a 3.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,302,248 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft in the fourth quarter valued at $1,681,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 207,672 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Lyft by 59.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 382,463 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $5,006,000 after acquiring an additional 142,880 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Lyft by 10,225.6% in the fourth quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 424,384 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $5,475,000 after acquiring an additional 420,274 shares in the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.