Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Upgraded by Benchmark to “Buy” Rating

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) was upgraded by Benchmark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $20.00 price objective on the ride-sharing company’s stock. Benchmark’s target price points to a potential upside of 40.15% from the company’s current price.

LYFT has been the subject of several other research reports. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Lyft in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Lyft from $10.50 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Lyft from $13.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Lyft from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Lyft from $13.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Twenty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lyft currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.84.

Lyft Price Performance

NASDAQ:LYFT opened at $14.27 on Monday. Lyft has a 52 week low of $8.93 and a 52 week high of $20.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.42. The firm has a market cap of $5.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -89.19, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $1.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.44 billion. Lyft had a negative return on equity of 1.58% and a negative net margin of 1.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.02) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lyft will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 4,242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.76, for a total transaction of $75,337.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 755,847 shares in the company, valued at $13,423,842.72. The trade was a 0.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Logan Green sold 10,919 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.25, for a total value of $188,352.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 314,492 shares in the company, valued at $5,424,987. This trade represents a 3.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,242 shares of company stock valued at $427,330. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 59.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 382,463 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $5,006,000 after purchasing an additional 142,880 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Lyft during the fourth quarter valued at about $171,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lyft by 37.2% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 45,976 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $585,000 after buying an additional 12,462 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lyft by 8.2% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 221,906 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $2,829,000 after buying an additional 16,911 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lyft by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 28,454 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares during the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.