Lyft's (LYFT) "Hold" Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their hold rating on shares of Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on LYFT. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Lyft in a report on Monday, March 17th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $15.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $16.56.

Lyft Stock Performance

NASDAQ LYFT traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $17.03. 31,935,334 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,019,060. The company has a market capitalization of $7.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 283.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.76. The business's 50 day moving average is $11.93 and its 200-day moving average is $13.62. Lyft has a 1 year low of $8.93 and a 1 year high of $19.07.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.15 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lyft announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the ride-sharing company to repurchase up to 8.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total transaction of $30,348.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 911,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,417,263.44. This represents a 0.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 22,736 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 959,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,948,227.65. This represents a 2.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 38,143 shares of company stock valued at $486,841. Insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Lyft by 282.0% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,623,227 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $111,240,000 after buying an additional 6,365,727 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in Lyft by 828.5% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,662,535 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $85,947,000 after buying an additional 5,945,000 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its stake in shares of Lyft by 156.9% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 8,025,099 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $103,524,000 after acquiring an additional 4,901,358 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Lyft during the fourth quarter worth about $49,599,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Lyft during the first quarter worth about $31,143,000. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.