Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) Rating Lowered to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. William Blair cut shares of Lyft to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Lyft from $19.00 to $14.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Morgan Stanley raised Lyft from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Lyft from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Lyft in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.40.

Lyft Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LYFT opened at $15.17 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $14.12 and a 200-day moving average of $15.09. Lyft has a 12 month low of $12.46 and a 12 month high of $25.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.76 billion, a PE ratio of 2.21, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.80.

Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The ride-sharing company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.26). Lyft had a negative return on equity of 2.09% and a net margin of 43.82%.The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share. Lyft’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lyft will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lyft news, CFO Erin Brewer sold 15,000 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.59, for a total transaction of $203,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 705,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,594,254.61. This trade represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Lindsay Catherine Llewellyn sold 23,661 shares of Lyft stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total value of $354,915.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 916,022 shares in the company, valued at $13,740,330. The trade was a 2.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 69,196 shares of company stock worth $992,371 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.92% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in Lyft in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lyft in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of Lyft by 171.8% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,174 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 1,374 shares in the last quarter. Boreal Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Lyft during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Lyft by 1,851.9% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,635 shares of the ride-sharing company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.07% of the company’s stock.

About Lyft

Lyft, Inc (NASDAQ: LYFT) operates a peer-to-peer ridesharing platform that connects passengers with drivers through a mobile application. Since its founding in 2012, the company has expanded beyond traditional ride-hailing to include bike and electric scooter rentals, while also offering rental cars and public transit options in select markets. Lyft’s platform uses GPS mapping and dynamic pricing algorithms to optimize driver-passenger matches and route efficiency.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Lyft primarily serves urban and suburban markets across the United States and Canada.