Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Lemonade (NYSE:LMND)

Lemonade, Inc. (NYSE:LMND) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 31,222 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 69% compared to the typical volume of 18,479 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Lemonade in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Lemonade in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Lemonade in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citizens Jmp increased their target price on shares of Lemonade from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Lemonade from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Sheldon Peters sold 18,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.77, for a total value of $1,377,536.10. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 83,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,073,893.59. This represents a 18.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Adina Eckstein sold 41,557 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.95, for a total transaction of $3,280,925.15. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 204,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,123,879.55. This trade represents a 16.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 170,725 shares of company stock worth $13,064,465. 14.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lemonade

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LMND. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Lemonade by 0.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,279,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,122,000 after purchasing an additional 57,856 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Lemonade by 30.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,506,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,685,000 after purchasing an additional 825,522 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lemonade by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,297,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,871,000 after buying an additional 60,853 shares in the last quarter. BIT Capital GmbH boosted its holdings in Lemonade by 69.3% in the 3rd quarter. BIT Capital GmbH now owns 1,254,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,145,000 after buying an additional 513,424 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Lemonade by 28.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 993,669 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,533,000 after buying an additional 217,913 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.30% of the company’s stock.

Lemonade Stock Up 15.9%

LMND traded up $13.55 during trading on Thursday, hitting $98.91. 3,964,487 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,088,031. The firm has a market cap of $7.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -41.38 and a beta of 1.98. Lemonade has a one year low of $24.31 and a one year high of $99.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $76.84 and its 200 day moving average is $60.84.

Lemonade (NYSE:LMND) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.72) by $0.21. Lemonade had a negative net margin of 26.39% and a negative return on equity of 31.86%. The firm had revenue of $194.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $185.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.95) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 42.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lemonade will post -3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Lemonade

Lemonade, Inc (NYSE: LMND) is a New York–based technology-driven insurance carrier that leverages artificial intelligence and behavioral economics to streamline the purchase and management of policies. Founded in 2015, the company offers renters, homeowners, pet, term life and car insurance products tailored for digitally savvy consumers. By automating underwriting and claims processing through chatbots and machine learning, Lemonade aims to deliver a more transparent and user-friendly experience than traditional insurers.

The company’s product suite includes standalone policies for renters and homeowners, customizable pet insurance plans, and term life coverage with simple online applications.