Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Bank of America Analyst Says

Key Points

• Bank of America has raised Lyft's price target from $12.00 to $14.00, maintaining an "underperform" rating, suggesting a potential downside of 38.70% from the current price.
• Multiple analysts have varying ratings for Lyft, with a consensus of "Hold" and an average target price of $17.59, while Citigroup downgraded its target to $14.00.
• Lyft recently reported earnings with EPS of $0.10, missing estimates of $0.27, and a revenue of $1.59 billion, which was below expectations of $1.61 billion.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by Bank of America from $12.00 to $14.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "underperform" rating on the ride-sharing company's stock. Bank of America's target price points to a potential downside of 38.00% from the company's current price.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on LYFT. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Lyft from $19.00 to $20.50 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating and set a $16.00 price target (up previously from $15.00) on shares of Lyft in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Tigress Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $28.00 target price (up from $26.00) on shares of Lyft in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lyft from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $18.30.

Lyft Price Performance

Shares of LYFT stock traded up $0.62 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $22.58. The company had a trading volume of 28,599,235 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,427,384. The company has a market capitalization of $9.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.09, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 2.33. Lyft has a 12-month low of $9.66 and a 12-month high of $23.50. 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 fifty day moving average of $16.11 and a 200-day moving average of $14.54.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 14,606 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $292,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 835,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,715,640. The trade was a 1.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO John David Risher acquired 5,926 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $16.88 per share, for a total transaction of $100,030.88. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,797,266 shares of the company's stock, valued at $199,137,850.08. The trade was a 0.05% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 74,427 shares of company stock worth $1,252,686 over the last three months. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lyft

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of LYFT. American Trust purchased a new position in Lyft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $195,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans acquired a new position in Lyft in the second quarter valued at $942,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its holdings in Lyft by 101.0% in the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 49,121 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $774,000 after acquiring an additional 24,680 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lyft during the second quarter worth about $445,000. Finally, FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lyft during the second quarter worth about $2,407,000. 83.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.