The Goldman Sachs Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Stock

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its price target boosted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $21.00 to $26.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 17.97% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Lyft in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Lyft from $19.00 to $20.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $11.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Guggenheim raised shares of Lyft to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Lyft from $19.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.55.

Lyft Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of LYFT opened at $22.04 on Friday. Lyft has a one year low of $9.66 and a one year high of $23.50. The company has a market cap of $8.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 2.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.86.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.17). Lyft had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 18.29%. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.24, for a total value of $258,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 525,759 shares in the company, valued at $9,064,085.16. This represents a 2.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 14,606 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total value of $292,120.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 835,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,715,640. This represents a 1.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 74,427 shares of company stock valued at $1,252,686 over the last 90 days. 3.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lyft

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Essex Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Lyft in the third quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lyft by 68.2% in the 3rd quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 594,800 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $13,092,000 after purchasing an additional 241,250 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 142,300.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 28,480 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 28,460 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ bought a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 3rd quarter valued at $24,828,000. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its position in shares of Lyft by 5.6% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 155,236 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $3,417,000 after buying an additional 8,243 shares during the period. 83.07% of the stock is 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.