JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Price Target to $16.00

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its price target boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $14.00 to $16.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on LYFT. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Lyft from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday. Roth Capital restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Lyft in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wedbush decreased their price objective on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.47.

Lyft Trading Up 28.0 %

Lyft stock opened at $16.64 on Friday. Lyft has a 12 month low of $8.93 and a 12 month high of $19.07. 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 stock has a market cap of $6.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 277.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.14. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.59.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.19). Lyft had a net margin of 0.39% and a return on equity of 8.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.15 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lyft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the ride-sharing company to purchase up to 8.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 22,736 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.45, for a total transaction of $283,063.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 959,697 shares in the company, valued at $11,948,227.65. This trade represents a 2.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.34, for a total value of $152,222.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 297,640 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold 38,143 shares of company stock worth $486,841 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Lyft during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Lyft by 81.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,756 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. 83.07% of the stock is 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.