LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on LZ. UBS Group cut their price objective on LegalZoom.com from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on LegalZoom.com from $11.00 to $8.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on LegalZoom.com from $8.50 to $7.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.25.

LegalZoom.com Price Performance

Shares of LZ stock opened at $8.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $6.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.81. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 140.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.31. LegalZoom.com has a 1-year low of $5.22 and a 1-year high of $12.40.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.01). LegalZoom.com had a net margin of 1.46% and a return on equity of 11.53%. The company had revenue of $206.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that LegalZoom.com will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at LegalZoom.com

In other LegalZoom.com news, insider Nicole Miller sold 19,199 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.58, for a total value of $126,329.42. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,119,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,364,480.76. This trade represents a 1.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Jeffrey M. Stibel bought 125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $6.15 per share, for a total transaction of $768,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,955,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,176,995.35. The trade was a 4.42% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LegalZoom.com

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of LZ. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in LegalZoom.com by 53.6% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 926,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,253,000 after purchasing an additional 323,201 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in LegalZoom.com by 187.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,509,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,636,487 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its position in LegalZoom.com by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 74,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in LegalZoom.com by 83.2% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 101,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $578,000 after purchasing an additional 46,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of LegalZoom.com by 1,656.5% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 188,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,069,000 after purchasing an additional 177,773 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

LegalZoom.com Company Profile

LegalZoom.com, Inc (NASDAQ: LZ) operates as a leading online legal technology company that provides a broad range of legal and business services to individuals, families and small businesses. Through its digital platform, the company offers customized legal documents and filing services, including business formation (LLCs, corporations and nonprofits), estate planning (wills and trusts), intellectual property protection (trademarks and copyrights), and ongoing compliance support. LegalZoom also connects customers with independent attorneys for consultations on matters such as family law, immigration and real estate.

Founded in 2001 by entrepreneurs Brian Lee, Brian P.