Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Guggenheim

Key Points

• Guggenheim upgraded Lyft to a "strong-buy" rating, reflecting increased confidence in the company's performance amidst changing market dynamics.
• Multiple research firms have raised their price targets for Lyft, with estimates ranging from $20.00 to $30.00, signaling a positive outlook from analysts.
• Lyft reported a 10.6% year-over-year revenue increase but missed earnings expectations with $0.10 per share, compared to the anticipated $0.27.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Guggenheim to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on LYFT. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $19.00 to $20.50 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Lyft from $22.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Benchmark increased their price target on shares of Lyft from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $19.12.

Lyft Stock Down 0.6%

LYFT stock opened at $20.00 on Wednesday. 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 company's 50 day moving average is $18.61 and its 200 day moving average is $15.70. The stock has a market cap of $8.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 2.40. Lyft has a 1-year low of $9.66 and a 1-year high of $23.50.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. Lyft had a return on equity of 14.32% and a net margin of 1.51%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.24 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.24, for a total transaction of $258,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 525,759 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,064,085.16. This represents a 2.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 14,606 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $292,120.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 835,782 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,715,640. This trade represents a 1.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 74,427 shares of company stock valued at $1,252,686. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LYFT. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 2,053.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 32,714 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 31,195 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 70.6% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 146,038 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $1,733,000 after purchasing an additional 60,438 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Lyft by 10.4% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,047 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $321,000 after acquiring an additional 2,554 shares during the period. PSI Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Lyft by 36.6% in the first quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 5,600 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Lyft by 11.3% in the first quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 9,025 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $107,000 after acquiring an additional 914 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company's stock.

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.

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