Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Price Target Lowered to $15.00 at BMO Capital Markets

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its target price dropped by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $18.00 to $15.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price suggests a potential upside of 11.36% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on LYFT. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Lyft from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on Lyft from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Lyft from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen raised their target price on Lyft from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Lyft from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Twenty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.22.

Lyft Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LYFT opened at $13.47 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $13.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $5.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -84.19, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.16. Lyft has a 12-month low of $8.93 and a 12-month high of $20.82.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its earnings results 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Lyft will post 0.06 EPS for the current year.

Lyft announced that its board has approved 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 repurchase up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication 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 the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.25, for a total transaction of $188,352.75. Following the transaction, the director now owns 314,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,424,987. This represents a 3.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lyft by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,493 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 903 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in Lyft by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 28,454 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $363,000 after buying an additional 969 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its stake in Lyft by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 16,023 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 970 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd raised its stake in Lyft by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 42,203 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $538,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Lyft by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 41,539 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 1,045 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.