Weiss Ratings Reiterates Hold (C-) Rating for Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Key Points

• Weiss Ratings has reiterated a Hold (C-) rating for Lyft, while the average price target among analysts is $19.02.
• Lyft's CFO sold 15,000 shares at an average price of $17.24, whereas the CEO bought 5,926 shares at an average cost of $16.88.
• The company reported $1.59 billion in revenue for its last quarter, which was slightly below analysts' expectations and represented a 10.6% year-over-year growth.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold (c-)" rating restated by investment analysts at Weiss Ratings in a research report issued on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Lyft from $19.00 to $20.50 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Lyft from $11.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Lyft from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Lyft in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Lyft from $16.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lyft currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $19.02.

Lyft Stock Performance

NASDAQ LYFT opened at $21.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.60 billion, a PE ratio of 88.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 2.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Lyft has a twelve month low of $9.66 and a twelve month high of $23.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.43.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.24, for a total value of $258,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 525,759 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,064,085.16. The trade was a 2.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO John David Risher purchased 5,926 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $16.88 per share, with a total value of $100,030.88. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 11,797,266 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 ninety days, insiders have sold 74,427 shares of company stock worth $1,252,686. 3.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lyft

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LYFT. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lyft by 144.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 24,009,925 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock worth $378,396,000 after acquiring an additional 14,205,143 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Group Inc. acquired a new position in Lyft in the first quarter valued at $130,434,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Lyft by 26.3% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 24,849,205 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $294,978,000 after purchasing an additional 5,178,118 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Lyft by 83,744.1% in the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,144,991 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $37,331,000 after purchasing an additional 3,141,240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Lyft by 415.2% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,714,935 shares of the ride-sharing company's stock valued at $58,547,000 after purchasing an additional 2,993,807 shares during the last quarter. 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.

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