Jefferies Financial Group Issues Positive Forecast for Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Stock Price

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group raised its price target on Lyft from $15.00 to $15.50, while keeping a hold rating on the stock. The new target still implies a slight downside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment on Lyft remains mixed overall: the stock has 13 Buy ratings, 20 Hold ratings, and 4 Sell ratings, with a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $19.40.
• Lyft recently reported earnings of $0.04 per share, missing estimates, but revenue came in at $1.65 billion, slightly ahead of expectations and up 17.2% year over year. Insiders also sold shares recently, though institutional investors still own the vast majority of the stock.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $15.00 to $15.50 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "hold" rating on the ride-sharing company's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price objective would indicate a potential downside of 1.08% from the stock's previous close.

LYFT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. William Blair downgraded shares of Lyft to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. BTIG Research raised Lyft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Lyft from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $19.40.

Lyft Price Performance

Lyft stock opened at $15.67 on Tuesday. The business's fifty day moving average is $14.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.01. The firm has a market cap of $5.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.58. Lyft has a 52 week low of $12.46 and a 52 week high of $25.54.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Lyft had a negative return on equity of 2.09% and a net margin of 43.82%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.01 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Lyft

In other news, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.59, for a total transaction of $203,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 705,979 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,594,254.61. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Stephen W. Hope sold 5,460 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.76, for a total value of $75,129.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 335,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,615,970.88. This trade represents a 1.60% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 69,196 shares of company stock worth $992,371 over the last quarter. 0.92% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,399 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Lyft by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 12,808 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 681 shares during the last quarter. Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lyft by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 18,153 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $352,000 after buying an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Lyft by 0.5% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 167,399 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $3,684,000 after buying an additional 771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lyft by 34.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,279 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lyft Company Profile

Lyft, Inc NASDAQ: LYFT operates a peer-to-peer ridesharing platform that connects passengers with drivers through a mobile application. Since its founding in 2012, the company has expanded beyond traditional ride-hailing to include bike and electric scooter rentals, while also offering rental cars and public transit options in select markets. Lyft's platform uses GPS mapping and dynamic pricing algorithms to optimize driver-passenger matches and route efficiency.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Lyft primarily serves urban and suburban markets across the United States and Canada.

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