Piper Sandler Reiterates Overweight Rating for Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by research analysts at Piper Sandler in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $18.00 target price on the ride-sharing company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $23.00. Piper Sandler’s target price points to a potential upside of 33.63% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $11.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Lyft from $19.00 to $15.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $10.50 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Twenty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.22.

Lyft Stock Performance

LYFT stock opened at $13.47 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $13.92 and its 200-day moving average is $13.52. 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 company has a market cap of $5.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -84.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.16. Lyft has a twelve month low of $8.93 and a twelve month high of $20.82.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 1.19% and a negative return on equity of 1.58%. Equities research analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.06 EPS for the current year.

Lyft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the ride-sharing company to repurchase up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lyft news, Director Logan Green sold 10,919 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 314,492 shares in the company, valued at $5,424,987. This trade represents a 3.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lyft

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Lyft by 274.6% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,959,267 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $38,175,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169,255 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Lyft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,332,000. Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its position in Lyft by 939.9% during the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 1,827,323 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $23,572,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651,604 shares during the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lyft by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 16,023 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Lyft by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 47,791 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 5,588 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.