Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Hold” Rating for Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their hold rating on shares of Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on LYFT. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Lyft from $11.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Lyft from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Lyft from $16.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up previously from $17.00) on shares of Lyft in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Lyft from $10.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Twenty-six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lyft currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.22.

Lyft Trading Down 0.3 %

LYFT opened at $13.43 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $13.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.52. The company has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -83.94, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.16. Lyft has a 52 week low of $8.93 and a 52 week high of $20.82.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.10). Lyft had a negative net margin of 1.19% and a negative return on equity of 1.58%. Analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Lyft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the ride-sharing company to purchase up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lyft

In other news, Director Logan Green sold 10,919 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 314,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,424,987. The trade was a 3.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lyft in the second quarter worth about $388,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Lyft by 512.2% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 42,656 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 35,688 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. acquired a new position in Lyft in the 3rd quarter worth about $284,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in Lyft by 21.7% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 47,181 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 8,408 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Lyft by 2,103.5% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 19,765 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 18,868 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.