Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Stock Rating Lowered by Bank of America

Bank of America lowered shares of Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) from a buy rating to an underperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Bank of America currently has $10.50 price target on the ride-sharing company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Benchmark raised Lyft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Lyft from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased 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, Wedbush dropped their price target on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.66.

Lyft Stock Down 11.4 %

Shares of LYFT opened at $11.48 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $12.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.82. 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 1 year low of $8.93 and a 1 year high of $19.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a PE ratio of 191.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.13.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.10). Lyft had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 0.39%. Analysts forecast 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 buyback $500.00 million in outstanding 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 usually an indication that the company’s management 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 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 sale, the director now directly owns 911,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,417,263.44. The trade was a 0.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.34, for a total transaction of $152,222.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 297,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,970,517.60. This represents a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 15,407 shares of company stock worth $203,778. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LYFT. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Lyft by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,493 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $316,000 after purchasing an additional 903 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Lyft by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 28,454 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Lyft by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 16,023 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd grew its stake in shares of Lyft by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 42,203 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $538,000 after purchasing an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Lyft by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 41,539 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.