Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Lyft, Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $15.00 to $18.00. The stock had previously closed at $16.60, but opened at $17.42. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Lyft shares last traded at $17.88, with a volume of 11,713,437 shares.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Lyft from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush increased their price target on Lyft from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Lyft from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Lyft from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Argus upgraded Lyft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lyft currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.52.

Insider Activity at Lyft

In related news, CAO Lisa Blackwood-Kapral sold 18,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.06, for a total value of $290,123.90. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 255,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,108,421.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Lyft news, CAO Lisa Blackwood-Kapral sold 18,065 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.06, for a total value of $290,123.90. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 255,817 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,108,421.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 193,200 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.04, for a total value of $3,871,728.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 932,544 shares in the company, valued at $18,688,181.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 280,526 shares of company stock valued at $5,358,031. Corporate insiders own 3.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lyft by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,116,655 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $481,429,000 after purchasing an additional 659,133 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter worth approximately $94,687,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lyft by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 5,619,470 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $59,229,000 after purchasing an additional 300,982 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Lyft by 21.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,425,740 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $46,647,000 after purchasing an additional 778,563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lyft by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,630,432 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $54,420,000 after purchasing an additional 141,823 shares in the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lyft Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $17.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The company has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.98 and a beta of 2.05.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The ride-sharing company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.14. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. Lyft had a negative return on equity of 54.80% and a negative net margin of 7.73%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lyft, Inc. will post -0.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.