Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Royal Bank Of Canada Analyst Says

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its target price upped by equities researchers at Royal Bank Of Canada from $21.00 to $27.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s target price suggests a potential upside of 22.50% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on LYFT. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Lyft in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Lyft from $22.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Lyft from $15.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Lyft from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Lyft from $15.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.55.

Lyft Stock Performance

Lyft stock opened at $22.04 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.82. The stock has a market cap of $8.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 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. Lyft has a 1-year low of $9.66 and a 1-year high of $23.50.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Lyft had a net margin of 2.40% and a return on equity of 18.29%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Lyft will post 0.22 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John David Risher bought 5,926 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $16.88 per share, for a total transaction of $100,030.88. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 11,797,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,137,850.08. The trade was a 0.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.24, for a total transaction of $258,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 525,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,064,085.16. The trade was a 2.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 74,427 shares of company stock valued at $1,252,686 over the last three months. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LYFT. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Lyft in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Lyft by 162.6% in the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,943 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 1,203 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lyft in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lyft by 1,242.2% in the second quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 2,161 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Lyft during the third quarter worth $50,000. 83.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.