Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Stock Price

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its price target lowered by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $14.00 to $13.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 19.93% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on LYFT. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Lyft from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Susquehanna cut their price target on Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Lyft in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Lyft from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price target on Lyft from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-seven have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.66.

Lyft Stock Performance

NASDAQ LYFT opened at $10.84 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.81. Lyft has a 12-month low of $8.93 and a 12-month high of $19.55. The company has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 180.67, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.13.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Lyft will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lyft announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the ride-sharing company to repurchase up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Lyft

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Lyft by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,002,611 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $464,434,000 after buying an additional 984,907 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew 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 during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Lyft by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 9,338,222 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $120,463,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,056 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Lyft by 282.0% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,623,227 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $111,240,000 after purchasing an additional 6,365,727 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 156.9% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 8,025,099 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $103,524,000 after purchasing an additional 4,901,358 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.