LegalZoom.com Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:LZ)

LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 7,562 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 521% compared to the typical volume of 1,217 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at LegalZoom.com

In other LegalZoom.com news, COO Richard Preece sold 9,462 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.17, for a total transaction of $124,614.54. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 498,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,565,495.23. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director John Francis Murphy sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.47, for a total transaction of $124,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 40,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $505,122.29. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Richard Preece sold 9,462 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 60,555 shares of company stock worth $664,688. Insiders own 10.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LegalZoom.com

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in LegalZoom.com by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 17,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 1,495 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in LegalZoom.com by 7.9% in the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 24,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,788 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in LegalZoom.com by 1.1% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 168,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,839,000 after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in LegalZoom.com by 116.4% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 2,002 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in LegalZoom.com during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LZ. Raymond James started coverage on shares of LegalZoom.com in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Barclays cut their price target on LegalZoom.com from $17.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $14.00 price target on shares of LegalZoom.com in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of LegalZoom.com from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.36.

LegalZoom.com Stock Performance

Shares of LegalZoom.com stock traded down $2.84 on Wednesday, reaching $9.35. The stock had a trading volume of 1,137,851 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,198,860. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $12.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.53. LegalZoom.com has a fifty-two week low of $7.88 and a fifty-two week high of $15.68.

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

LegalZoom.com Company Profile

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.