Lyft’s (LYFT) Hold Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on LYFT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Lyft from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Lyft from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Citigroup reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Lyft in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on Lyft from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Twenty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.03.

Lyft Price Performance

Shares of Lyft stock opened at $12.27 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 $19.96. The company has a fifty day moving average of $13.00 and a 200-day moving average of $13.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 204.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.15.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Transactions at Lyft

In related news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, 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 value of $152,222.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 297,640 shares in the company, valued at $3,970,517.60. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,407 shares of company stock worth $203,778 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lyft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LYFT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Lyft by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,002,611 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $464,434,000 after acquiring an additional 984,907 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 18,052,879 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $230,174,000 after purchasing an additional 80,675 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Lyft by 32.4% during 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. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lyft by 15.1% in 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. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Lyft by 282.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,623,227 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $111,240,000 after buying an additional 6,365,727 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

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.