Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Trading 3.5% Higher

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT) rose 3.5% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $19.21 and last traded at $19.04. Approximately 1,947,372 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 17,123,908 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on LYFT. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Lyft from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $17.00 to $23.00 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group upped their target price on Lyft from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Lyft from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Lyft from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Lyft from $11.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.52.

Lyft Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The ride-sharing company reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.19) by $0.14. The company had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. Lyft had a negative net margin of 7.73% and a negative return on equity of 54.80%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Lyft, Inc. will post -0.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Lyft

In other Lyft news, President Kristin Sverchek sold 5,670 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total transaction of $85,163.40. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 633,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,521,929. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Lyft news, President Kristin Sverchek sold 5,670 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total value of $85,163.40. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 633,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,521,929. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 15,724 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.51, for a total value of $275,327.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,204,071 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,083,283.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 270,526 shares of company stock valued at $5,195,771 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lyft

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LYFT. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Lyft during the first quarter worth about $470,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Lyft by 42.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,302,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Lyft by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,116,655 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $481,429,000 after purchasing an additional 659,133 shares during the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.