Lyft’s (LYFT) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $21.00 target price on the ride-sharing company’s stock.

LYFT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Lyft in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Benchmark raised shares of Lyft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Lyft from $19.00 to $15.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Twenty-six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lyft presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.03.

Lyft Price Performance

NASDAQ:LYFT opened at $11.72 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.90 billion, a PE ratio of 195.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.15. Lyft has a 12 month low of $8.93 and a 12 month high of $20.82. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $13.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.78.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.10). Lyft had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 0.39%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lyft declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the ride-sharing company to buy up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Lyft

In other news, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 297,640 shares in the company, valued at $3,970,517.60. This represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total transaction of $30,348.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 911,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,417,263.44. The trade was a 0.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,407 shares of company stock worth $203,778 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lyft

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of LYFT. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Lyft by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 398,880 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $5,146,000 after purchasing an additional 49,138 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Lyft by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,408,466 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $121,369,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302,248 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Lyft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,681,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Lyft by 354.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 266,185 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $3,434,000 after purchasing an additional 207,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Lyft by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,878,369 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $50,031,000 after purchasing an additional 981,186 shares in the last quarter. 83.07% of the stock is currently 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.