Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $15.00 to $18.00. The stock had previously closed at $16.60, but opened at $17.42. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Lyft shares last traded at $17.88, with a volume of 11,713,437 shares.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lyft news, President Kristin Sverchek sold 5,670 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total transaction of $85,163.40. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 633,950 shares in the company, valued at $9,521,929. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Lyft news, Director Logan Green sold 11,867 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.69, for a total transaction of $186,193.23. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 346,341 shares in the company, valued at $5,434,090.29. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Kristin Sverchek sold 5,670 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total transaction of $85,163.40. Following the transaction, the president now owns 633,950 shares in the company, valued at $9,521,929. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 280,526 shares of company stock worth $5,358,031. Insiders own 3.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Lyft in the first quarter worth approximately $1,145,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lyft by 55.2% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 23,417 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $453,000 after purchasing an additional 8,328 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Lyft in the first quarter worth approximately $2,328,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Lyft by 55.3% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 98,676 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 35,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Lyft by 2.0% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 683,100 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $13,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,300 shares during the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lyft Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The stock has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.98 and a beta of 2.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $17.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.58.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The ride-sharing company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.19) by $0.14. Lyft had a negative return on equity of 54.80% and a negative net margin of 7.73%. The company had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. Analysts forecast that Lyft, Inc. will post -0.35 earnings per share for the current year.

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.