Lyft’s (LYFT) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their outperform rating on shares of Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $21.00 target price on the ride-sharing company’s stock.

LYFT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Lyft from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Lyft from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Twenty-six investment 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. According to MarketBeat, Lyft presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.03.

Lyft Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of Lyft stock opened at $11.72 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.76. Lyft has a 52-week low of $8.93 and a 52-week high of $20.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 195.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.15. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $13.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.78.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last issued 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 return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 0.39%. Equities research analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current year.

Lyft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock 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 repurchase up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Lyft

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lyft

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LYFT. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Lyft by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 398,880 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $5,146,000 after purchasing an additional 49,138 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lyft by 32.4% in the 4th 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. purchased a new position in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,681,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Lyft by 354.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 266,185 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $3,434,000 after purchasing an additional 207,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Lyft by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,878,369 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $50,031,000 after purchasing an additional 981,186 shares in the last quarter. 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.