Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) Receives $16.45 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirty-eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $16.47.

A number of research firms have commented on LYFT. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Lyft from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd.

Lyft Stock Up 28.0%

LYFT stock opened at $16.64 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 277.33, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.14. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Lyft has a twelve month low of $8.93 and a twelve month high of $19.07.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.47 billion. Lyft had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 0.39%. Lyft’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lyft will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lyft announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the ride-sharing company to buy up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total value of $30,348.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 911,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,417,263.44. This trade represents a 0.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 22,736 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $11,948,227.65. This represents a 2.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,143 shares of company stock worth $486,841 over the last ninety days. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lyft

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,049,250 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $451,645,000 after acquiring an additional 2,046,639 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Lyft by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,408,466 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $121,369,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302,248 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lyft by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 9,338,222 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $120,463,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,056 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Lyft by 282.0% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,623,227 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $111,240,000 after purchasing an additional 6,365,727 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Lyft by 156.9% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 8,025,099 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $103,524,000 after buying an additional 4,901,358 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

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.