LegalZoom.com Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:LZ)

LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders acquired 7,562 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 521% compared to the typical volume of 1,217 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on LegalZoom.com from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $14.00 target price on shares of LegalZoom.com in a report on Friday, April 12th. Raymond James initiated coverage on LegalZoom.com in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on LegalZoom.com from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.36.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nicole Miller sold 24,557 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.75, for a total transaction of $239,430.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 208,641 shares in the company, valued at $2,034,249.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Nicole Miller sold 24,557 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.75, for a total transaction of $239,430.75. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 208,641 shares in the company, valued at $2,034,249.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Richard Preece sold 9,462 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.17, for a total value of $124,614.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 498,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,565,495.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 60,555 shares of company stock valued at $664,688. 10.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LegalZoom.com

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 22.5% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 24,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 4,420 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 5.3% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 167,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,240,000 after purchasing an additional 8,481 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 39.6% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 83,698 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,117,000 after purchasing an additional 23,730 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 148.3% during the first quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC now owns 70,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $944,000 after purchasing an additional 42,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 15.7% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 241,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,218,000 after purchasing an additional 32,700 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

LegalZoom.com Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LZ opened at $9.28 on Thursday. LegalZoom.com has a 1 year low of $7.88 and a 1 year high of $15.68. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.89, a PEG ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $12.76 and a 200-day moving average of $11.53.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.04 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $158.66 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.25 million. LegalZoom.com had a return on equity of 15.79% and a net margin of 2.11%. On average, equities research analysts predict that LegalZoom.com will post 0.3 EPS for the current year.

About LegalZoom.com

LegalZoom.com, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an online platform that supports the legal, compliance, and business management needs of small businesses and consumers in the United States. The company's platform offers business formation products, such as limited liability company, incorporation of C and S corporations, nonprofit formations, doing-business-as, corporate changes and filings, business licenses, legal forms, and beneficial ownership information reports; intellectual property products consisting of trademark and patent applications, and copyright registrations; and tax services, including business and personal tax preparations.