Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Price Target Lowered to $15.00 at Morgan Stanley

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its price objective reduced by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $17.00 to $15.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 36.15% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on LYFT. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group lowered their target price on Lyft from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wedbush dropped their target price on Lyft from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Lyft in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-seven have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.45.

Lyft Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of LYFT traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $11.02. The company had a trading volume of 5,691,540 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,988,191. The firm has a market cap of $4.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 183.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.13. Lyft has a 52-week low of $8.93 and a 52-week 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’s 50 day moving average price is $12.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.67.

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

Lyft announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, February 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the ride-sharing company to buy up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Lyft

In other Lyft news, Director John Patrick Zimmer sold 2,424 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.52, for a total transaction of $30,348.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 911,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,417,263.44. The trade was a 0.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Logan Green sold 11,411 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.34, for a total transaction of $152,222.74. Following the sale, the director now owns 297,640 shares in the company, valued at $3,970,517.60. The trade was a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,407 shares of company stock valued at $203,778 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LYFT. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Lyft by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,493 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 903 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Lyft by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 28,454 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 969 shares in the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Lyft by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 16,023 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 41,539 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $536,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Lyft by 42.7% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 3,538 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 1,058 shares in the last quarter. 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.