Wall Street Zen Upgrades Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) to Strong-Buy

Key Points

• Lyft has been upgraded from a "buy" to a "strong-buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting increased analyst confidence in the company's stock.
• Despite recent upgrades, Lyft's stock opened at $13.42, down 5.5%, and has a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average target price of $16.84.
• The company's recent quarterly earnings fell short of expectations, with an EPS of $0.10, which was below the consensus estimate of $0.27.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $14.00 target price (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Lyft in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Lyft from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Lyft from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Lyft from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Lyft from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lyft currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $16.70.

Lyft Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ LYFT traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $13.46. 19,417,092 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,062,736. Lyft has a 1-year low of $9.53 and a 1-year high of $19.07. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $14.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.63 billion, a PE ratio of 56.09, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 2.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lyft news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.80, for a total transaction of $38,299.20. Following the sale, the director owned 879,498 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,896,068.40. This represents a 0.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John David Risher bought 6,538 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $15.29 per share, for a total transaction of $99,966.02. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,791,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $180,289,588.60. The trade was a 0.06% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Lyft by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,049,250 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $451,645,000 after acquiring an additional 2,046,639 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Lyft by 26.3% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 24,849,205 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $294,978,000 after acquiring an additional 5,178,118 shares during the period. Rakuten Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $130,434,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Lyft by 103.3% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,804,782 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $110,598,000 after acquiring an additional 4,980,876 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Lyft by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 9,338,222 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $120,463,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224,056 shares during the period. 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.