Lyft’s (LYFT) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Oppenheimer

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities researchers at Oppenheimer in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $17.00 price target on the ride-sharing company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $15.00. Oppenheimer’s target price indicates a potential upside of 2.16% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on LYFT. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Lyft from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price target on shares of Lyft in a report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Lyft from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $18.00 target price (down from $23.00) on shares of Lyft in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Lyft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.47.

Lyft Price Performance

Shares of Lyft stock opened at $16.64 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 277.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a fifty day moving average of $11.84 and a 200-day moving average of $13.59. Lyft has a 52-week low of $8.93 and a 52-week high of $19.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.19). Lyft had a net margin of 0.39% and a return on equity of 8.03%. The company had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.47 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.15 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 22,736 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.45, for a total value of $283,063.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 959,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,948,227.65. This trade represents a 2.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total transaction of $30,348.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 911,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,417,263.44. This represents a 0.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,143 shares of company stock valued at $486,841. Insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lyft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Lyft by 282.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,623,227 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $111,240,000 after acquiring an additional 6,365,727 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 828.5% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,662,535 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $85,947,000 after buying an additional 5,945,000 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its position in Lyft by 156.9% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 8,025,099 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $103,524,000 after buying an additional 4,901,358 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Lyft during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,599,000. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in Lyft by 2,553.0% in the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 2,607,399 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $30,950,000 after acquiring an additional 2,509,118 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lyft Company 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.