Piper Sandler Raises Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Price Target to $22.00

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) had its target price lifted by Piper Sandler from $17.00 to $22.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the ride-sharing company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on LYFT. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Lyft from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Lyft from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their target price for the company from $17.00 to $23.00 in a research note on Monday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Lyft in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. They set a market perform rating and a $15.00 price objective for the company. Argus upgraded Lyft from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $20.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Nomura cut Lyft from a neutral rating to a reduce rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $11.70 to $13.00 in a research note on Friday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $14.40.

Lyft Price Performance

Shares of Lyft stock traded up $0.72 during trading on Friday, hitting $17.95. 14,468,323 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,507,709. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The stock has a market cap of $7.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.17 and a beta of 1.95. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $14.88 and its 200-day moving average is $12.78. Lyft has a 52 week low of $7.85 and a 52 week high of $19.42.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The ride-sharing company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.14. Lyft had a negative return on equity of 54.80% and a negative net margin of 7.73%. The business had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. Research analysts expect that Lyft will post -0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Lisa Blackwood-Kapral sold 18,581 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.26, for a total value of $283,546.06. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 282,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,318,564.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Logan Green sold 11,867 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.69, for a total value of $186,193.23. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 346,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,434,090.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lisa Blackwood-Kapral sold 18,581 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.26, for a total value of $283,546.06. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 282,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,318,564.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 85,576 shares of company stock worth $1,367,862. 3.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lyft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Lyft by 685.2% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,916 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,672 shares during the period. a16z Perennial Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Lyft during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lyft in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.63% 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.