Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Rating Lowered to “Underperform” at Bank of America

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) was downgraded by analysts at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $10.50 target price on the ride-sharing company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential downside of 3.14% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on LYFT. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $18.00 price target (down previously from $23.00) on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Lyft in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Roth Capital reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Lyft from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-seven have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.66.

Lyft Price Performance

NASDAQ LYFT opened at $10.84 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 180.67, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $12.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.81. Lyft has a 1 year low of $8.93 and a 1 year high of $19.55.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 0.39% and a return on equity of 8.03%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Lyft declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the ride-sharing company to reacquire up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Lyft

In other Lyft news, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.34, for a total transaction of $152,222.74. Following the sale, the director now owns 297,640 shares in the company, valued at $3,970,517.60. This represents a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total value of $30,348.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 911,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,417,263.44. The trade was a 0.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,407 shares of company stock valued at $203,778. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LYFT. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Lyft by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 355,864 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $4,591,000 after purchasing an additional 1,783 shares in the last quarter. 111 Capital purchased a new stake in Lyft in the fourth quarter valued at $268,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Lyft by 157.3% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 85,600 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $1,104,000 after acquiring an additional 52,333 shares in the last quarter. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft during the fourth quarter worth about $213,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter valued at about $950,000. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.