Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Given New $23.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its price target lifted by BMO Capital Markets from $20.00 to $23.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Lyft in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Guggenheim raised shares of Lyft to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Wedbush raised their target price on Lyft from $17.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group increased their price target on Lyft from $15.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Lyft from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lyft presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.42.

Lyft Stock Performance

LYFT traded up $0.79 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $22.04. 21,590,512 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,815,194. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $20.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. Lyft has a 52-week low of $9.66 and a 52-week high of $23.50.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Lyft had a return on equity of 18.29% and a net margin of 2.40%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lyft

In other news, CEO John David Risher acquired 5,926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $16.88 per share, with a total value of $100,030.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,797,266 shares in the company, valued at approximately $199,137,850.08. This represents a 0.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 28,356 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.85, for a total value of $449,442.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 850,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,478,649.80. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 74,427 shares of company stock worth $1,252,686 over the last quarter. Insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lyft by 144.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 24,009,925 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $378,396,000 after buying an additional 14,205,143 shares during the period. Rakuten Group Inc. purchased a new position in Lyft during the first quarter valued at $130,434,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Lyft by 83,744.1% during the first quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,144,991 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $37,331,000 after purchasing an additional 3,141,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Lyft by 415.2% during the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,714,935 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $58,547,000 after purchasing an additional 2,993,807 shares during the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.