Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Hold Rating for Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their hold rating on shares of Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports.

LYFT has been the topic of several other research reports. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Lyft from $19.00 to $15.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Benchmark raised shares of Lyft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America upped their target price on Lyft from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Lyft from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Twenty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.03.

Lyft Stock Performance

Lyft stock opened at $12.27 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $13.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a PE ratio of 204.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.15. Lyft has a twelve month low of $8.93 and a twelve month high of $19.96.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.10). Lyft had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 0.39%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lyft announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the ride-sharing company to purchase up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total value of $30,348.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 911,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,417,263.44. This represents a 0.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.34, for a total value of $152,222.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 297,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,970,517.60. This represents a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,407 shares of company stock valued at $203,778. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Lyft by 282.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,623,227 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $111,240,000 after acquiring an additional 6,365,727 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Lyft by 828.5% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,662,535 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $85,947,000 after purchasing an additional 5,945,000 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its position in Lyft by 156.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,901,358 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,599,000. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 84.8% in the third quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 6,186,000 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $78,872,000 after buying an additional 2,838,000 shares during the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is currently 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.