Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $12.41, but opened at $12.86. Lyft shares last traded at $13.38, with a volume of 4,793,676 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $10.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Raymond James assumed coverage on Lyft in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Melius Research initiated coverage on Lyft in a report on Monday, July 22nd. They set a “hold” rating and a $15.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Twenty-six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.65.

Lyft Trading Up 10.1 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.16. The company has a market cap of $5.60 billion, a PE ratio of -83.63 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.39 billion. Lyft had a negative return on equity of 8.57% and a negative net margin of 1.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 40.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.14) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lyft, Inc. will post -0.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Lyft news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 8,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.76, for a total transaction of $99,795.36. Following the sale, the insider now owns 764,332 shares in the company, valued at $8,988,544.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 8,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.76, for a total transaction of $99,795.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 764,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,988,544.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 7,188 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.40, for a total value of $81,943.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 932,062 shares in the company, valued at $10,625,506.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 32,664 shares of company stock valued at $380,048. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lyft by 42.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Lyft by 4.4% in the second quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 23,460 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 993 shares during the period. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Lyft by 277.8% during the 1st quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,360 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lyft by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 13,894 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $196,000 after buying an additional 1,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,854 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 1,437 shares during the period. 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.