Oppenheimer Initiates Coverage on Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Investment analysts at Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set an "outperform" rating and a $15.00 price target on the ride-sharing company's stock. Oppenheimer's price target indicates a potential upside of 40.19% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on LYFT. Citigroup restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Roth Capital restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. 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 report on Wednesday, February 12th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating on shares of Lyft in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-seven have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lyft presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $16.45.

Lyft Stock Performance

Shares of Lyft stock traded down $0.46 on Wednesday, hitting $10.70. 4,714,124 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,579,219. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a PE ratio of 178.33, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.13. Lyft has a 1 year low of $8.93 and a 1 year high of $19.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.67.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.10). Lyft had a net margin of 0.39% and a return on equity of 8.03%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current year.

Lyft declared that its board 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 repurchase up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lyft

In other news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total transaction of $30,348.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 911,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,417,263.44. This trade represents a 0.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.34, for a total transaction of $152,222.74. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 15,407 shares of company stock valued at $203,778. 3.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lyft by 3.5% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 28,454 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $363,000 after buying an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Lyft by 8.2% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 221,906 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $2,829,000 after acquiring an additional 16,911 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lyft by 37.2% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 45,976 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $585,000 after purchasing an additional 12,462 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter worth about $171,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Lyft by 59.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 382,463 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $5,006,000 after buying an additional 142,880 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.