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

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its price target reduced by BMO Capital Markets from $18.00 to $15.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on Lyft from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark raised shares of Lyft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Lyft from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on Lyft from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Twenty-six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lyft has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.22.

Lyft Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LYFT opened at $13.43 on Wednesday. Lyft has a twelve month low of $8.93 and a twelve month high of $20.82. The company has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -83.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.16. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $13.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.52.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last released 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lyft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the ride-sharing company to reacquire up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership 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 dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,424,987. The trade was a 3.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 2,302,248 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Lyft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,681,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Lyft by 354.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 266,185 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $3,434,000 after buying an additional 207,672 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 59.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its position in shares of Lyft by 10,225.6% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.