Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Price Target Lowered to $16.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its price target lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $19.00 to $16.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on LYFT. Benchmark upgraded Lyft from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Lyft from $19.00 to $15.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Lyft from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Lyft in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Lyft from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Twenty-six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lyft currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.22.

Lyft Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ LYFT opened at $13.43 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $13.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.52. Lyft has a one year low of $8.93 and a one year high of $20.82. The company has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -83.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.16. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.10). Lyft had a negative return on equity of 1.58% and a negative net margin of 1.19%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lyft will post 0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lyft declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 11th that permits the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the ride-sharing company to reacquire up to 8.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lyft news, Director Logan Green sold 10,919 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.25, for a total value of $188,352.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 314,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,424,987. The trade was a 3.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. 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 buying an additional 2,302,248 shares during the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lyft in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,681,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Lyft by 354.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 266,185 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $3,434,000 after purchasing an additional 207,672 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Lyft by 59.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 382,463 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $5,006,000 after purchasing an additional 142,880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. increased its stake in Lyft by 10,225.6% during the 4th quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 424,384 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock valued at $5,475,000 after purchasing an additional 420,274 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

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.