Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Price Target Cut to $15.00 by Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its price objective cut by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $18.00 to $15.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 10.97% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on LYFT. TD Cowen upped their target price on Lyft from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays dropped their target price on Lyft from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America upped their target price on Lyft from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Roth Mkm upped their target price on Lyft from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday. Twenty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.41.

Lyft Trading Down 6.1 %

LYFT stock traded down $0.87 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $13.52. 37,740,842 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,805,768. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Lyft has a 52-week low of $8.93 and a 52-week high of $20.82. The company has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a P/E ratio of -84.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $14.00 and its 200-day moving average is $13.52.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 expect that Lyft will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Lyft announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, February 11th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the ride-sharing company to reacquire up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lyft news, Director Logan Green sold 10,919 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.25, for a total transaction of $188,352.75. Following the sale, the director now owns 314,492 shares in the company, valued at $5,424,987. The trade was a 3.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lyft

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Lyft by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,002,611 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $464,434,000 after buying an additional 984,907 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Lyft by 0.4% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 18,052,879 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $230,174,000 after buying an additional 80,675 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,408,466 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $121,369,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302,248 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 27.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 8,114,166 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $103,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,735,208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 6,491,590 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $82,768,000 after purchasing an additional 235,510 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.