Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Price Target Raised to $26.00 at Benchmark

Key Points

• Lyft's price target was raised by Benchmark to $26.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.58% from its current price, with a "buy" rating reinstated.
• Despite improvements in pricing targets from various analysts, Lyft recently posted earnings of $0.10 EPS, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 EPS.
• Lyft's stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average price target of $18.52, as nine analysts rated it a Buy and twenty-one issued Hold ratings.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by investment analysts at Benchmark from $20.00 to $26.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the ride-sharing company's stock. Benchmark's price target suggests a potential upside of 14.89% from the stock's current price.

LYFT has been the subject of a number of other reports. TD Cowen upgraded Lyft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $21.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Lyft from $17.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Lyft from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Lyft from $19.00 to $20.50 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $18.52.

Lyft Trading Up 0.2%

LYFT traded up $0.05 during trading on Monday, reaching $22.63. 20,588,571 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 25,640,958. Lyft has a one year low of $9.66 and a one year high of $23.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.20 billion, a PE ratio of 94.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 2.33. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $16.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.63.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lyft news, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 owned 540,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,241,167.16. This represents a 2.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John David Risher bought 5,926 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $16.88 per share, with a total value of $100,030.88. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 74,427 shares of company stock worth $1,252,686. Insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LYFT. Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Lyft in the fourth quarter valued at about $157,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lyft by 722.6% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 211,161 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $2,724,000 after purchasing an additional 185,490 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lyft in the fourth quarter valued at about $279,000. Forum Financial Management LP purchased a new stake in Lyft during the fourth quarter worth about $132,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in Lyft during the fourth quarter worth about $2,395,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.