Wedbush Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Stock Price

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its target price dropped by analysts at Wedbush from $18.00 to $16.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock. Wedbush’s price target suggests a potential upside of 17.96% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on LYFT. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Lyft from $13.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Lyft from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Lyft from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Lyft from $10.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Lyft from $10.50 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Twenty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.34.

Lyft Stock Down 5.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LYFT traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $13.56. The company had a trading volume of 43,241,464 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,092,801. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -84.78, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $14.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Lyft has a one year low of $8.93 and a one year high of $20.82.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.10). Lyft had a negative return on equity of 1.58% and a negative net margin of 1.19%. Equities research analysts expect that Lyft will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lyft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the ride-sharing company to purchase up to 8.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Lyft

In related news, Director Logan Green sold 10,919 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 314,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,424,987. This represents a 3.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Lyft by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,002,611 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $464,434,000 after buying an additional 984,907 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lyft by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 18,052,879 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $230,174,000 after acquiring an additional 80,675 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lyft by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,408,466 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $121,369,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302,248 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in Lyft by 27.2% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 8,114,166 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $103,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,735,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in Lyft by 3.8% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 6,491,590 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $82,768,000 after purchasing an additional 235,510 shares in the last quarter. 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.