Lyft's (LYFT) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Free Report) in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $21.00 price objective on the ride-sharing company's stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on LYFT. DA Davidson restated a "neutral" rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on Lyft from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Friday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Lyft from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Lyft from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-six have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lyft has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $16.40.

Lyft Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LYFT remained flat at $15.53 during midday trading on Thursday. The company had a trading volume of 10,594,500 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,222,307. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Lyft has a twelve month low of $8.93 and a twelve month high of $19.07. The stock's 50-day moving average is $13.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.63. The company has a market cap of $6.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 258.83, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.22.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.19). Lyft had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 0.39%. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.15 earnings per share. Lyft's revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current year.

Lyft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the ride-sharing company to repurchase up to 8.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Lyft

In related news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.80, for a total value of $38,299.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 879,498 shares in the company, valued at $13,896,068.40. This trade represents a 0.27% 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, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 22,736 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.45, for a total value of $283,063.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 959,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,948,227.65. The trade was a 2.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,732 shares of company stock valued at $347,159 in the last three months. 3.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LYFT. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Lyft in the fourth quarter worth about $202,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Lyft in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Optimist Retirement Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter worth about $152,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter worth about $445,000. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.