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

Key Points

• Lyft was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating, reflecting cautious sentiment among analysts.
• Several analysts have adjusted Lyft's target prices, with Oppenheimer lowering it from $20 to $17, while Sanford C. Bernstein raised it from $16 to $18.
• Lyft reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing expectations of $0.27, with revenue of $1.59 billion, slightly below the anticipated $1.61 billion.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on LYFT. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Lyft from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $21.00 price target on shares of Lyft in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Lyft from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Lyft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $16.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lyft currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $17.07.

Lyft Trading Up 9.8%

Shares of LYFT stock traded up $1.82 on Friday, hitting $20.44. 25,386,431 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,770,878. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $15.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.31 billion, a PE ratio of 85.17, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 2.33. Lyft has a twelve month low of $9.66 and a twelve month high of $20.50.

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

Insider Transactions at Lyft

In other news, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.24, for a total transaction of $228,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 540,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,241,167.16. This trade represents a 2.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO John David Risher bought 5,926 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $16.88 per share, for a total transaction of $100,030.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 11,797,266 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $199,137,850.08. The trade was a 0.05% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 59,821 shares of company stock worth $960,566. Insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lyft

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LYFT. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 3.7% during the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 24,441 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 868 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 4.0% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 23,344 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 892 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 3.8% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 24,688 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 11.3% during the first quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 9,025 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 39.4% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,107 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.