Wall Street Zen Downgrades Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) to Buy

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $14.00 price objective (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Lyft in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Lyft from $18.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Lyft from $19.00 to $20.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Lyft from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Lyft in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.07.

Lyft Stock Up 1.6%

LYFT opened at $18.62 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $15.52 and a 200-day moving average of $14.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 2.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Lyft has a 1-year low of $9.66 and a 1-year high of $19.35.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. Lyft had a return on equity of 14.32% and a net margin of 1.51%.The company’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.24 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lyft will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO John David Risher purchased 5,926 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $16.88 per share, for a total transaction of $100,030.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,797,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,137,850.08. This represents a 0.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.24, for a total transaction of $258,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 525,759 shares in the company, valued at $9,064,085.16. This represents a 2.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 59,821 shares of company stock worth $960,566. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Lyft by 42.1% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,689 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 2,871 shares during the last quarter. Maxi Investments CY Ltd boosted its stake in Lyft by 320.4% in the first quarter. Maxi Investments CY Ltd now owns 945,933 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $11,228,000 after purchasing an additional 720,933 shares in the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lyft during the first quarter worth $2,191,000. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. increased its stake in shares of Lyft by 40.2% in the first quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 104,314 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after buying an additional 29,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lyft by 26.3% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 24,849,205 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $294,978,000 after buying an additional 5,178,118 shares during the last quarter. 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.