Jefferies Financial Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Stock Price

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its price objective lowered by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $23.00 to $22.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 8.00% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on LYFT. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Lyft from $22.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Lyft from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Lyft in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Lyft from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Lyft from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.92.

Lyft Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ LYFT opened at $20.37 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $8.13 billion, a PE ratio of 53.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, 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 $25.54. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $21.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.09.

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 for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Lyft

In related news, Director David Lawee sold 6,578 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.55, for a total value of $148,333.90. Following the transaction, the director owned 104,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,355,573. This trade represents a 5.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Prashant Aggarwal sold 96,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.30, for a total transaction of $2,160,870.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 874,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,498,428.70. This trade represents a 9.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 202,049 shares of company stock worth $4,470,738. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lyft

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LYFT. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 61.0% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 26,162 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $576,000 after purchasing an additional 9,913 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in Lyft by 69.7% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 18,412 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 7,562 shares in the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Lyft by 71.0% in the 3rd quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 192,416 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $4,235,000 after acquiring an additional 79,916 shares in the last quarter. Ariadne Wealth Management LP increased its stake in Lyft by 10.0% during the third quarter. Ariadne Wealth Management LP now owns 14,019 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lyft during the 3rd quarter valued at about $223,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

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.