Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Price Target Cut to $21.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its price target lowered by Royal Bank of Canada from $24.00 to $21.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on LYFT. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Lyft from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Benchmark upgraded Lyft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Lyft from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Twenty-six 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lyft has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.22.

Lyft Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LYFT opened at $13.43 on Wednesday. Lyft has a 1 year low of $8.93 and a 1 year high of $20.82. The company has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a PE ratio of -83.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.16. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $13.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last posted its quarterly 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 negative net margin of 1.19% and a negative return on equity of 1.58%. Analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Lyft declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 11th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the ride-sharing company to repurchase up to 8.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lyft news, Director Logan Green sold 10,919 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.25, for a total transaction of $188,352.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 314,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,424,987. This trade represents a 3.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lyft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in Lyft by 90.1% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 28,544 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $368,000 after buying an additional 13,528 shares during the period. Westerly Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lyft by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Westerly Capital Management LLC now owns 375,000 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $4,838,000 after acquiring an additional 125,000 shares during the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Lyft during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,309,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its position in Lyft by 194.3% during the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 502,563 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $6,483,000 after acquiring an additional 331,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Lyft by 60.9% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,823,906 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $62,228,000 after purchasing an additional 1,825,761 shares during the period. 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.