Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $14.17, but opened at $14.89. Lyft shares last traded at $14.80, with a volume of 4,857,110 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on LYFT. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Lyft from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Lyft from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial increased their target price on Lyft from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Lyft from $16.50 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Lyft from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Twenty-seven research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.84.

Lyft Trading Down 4.8 %

The business’s 50 day moving average is $14.05 and its 200-day moving average is $13.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.10). Lyft had a negative return on equity of 1.58% and a negative net margin of 1.19%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lyft, Inc. will post 0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lyft announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Logan Green sold 10,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.25, for a total value of $188,352.75. Following the sale, the director now owns 314,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,424,987. The trade was a 3.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 2,302,248 shares during the period. Paragon Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Lyft in the fourth quarter valued at $1,681,000. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 207,672 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 142,880 shares during the period. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 420,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

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.