Wall Street Zen Downgrades LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) to Hold

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also commented on LZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $7.00 price target (down from $8.00) on shares of LegalZoom.com in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of LegalZoom.com from $8.50 to $7.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of LegalZoom.com from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, William Blair downgraded shares of LegalZoom.com from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, LegalZoom.com has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $7.30.

LegalZoom.com Price Performance

Shares of LZ stock opened at $5.77 on Friday. LegalZoom.com has a 1 year low of $5.22 and a 1 year high of $12.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $988.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average of $6.73 and a 200 day moving average of $6.71.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $205.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $205.83 million. LegalZoom.com had a net margin of 2.13% and a return on equity of 15.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.15 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that LegalZoom.com will post 0.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Noel Bertram Watson sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.45, for a total transaction of $96,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,041,847 shares in the company, valued at $13,169,913.15. The trade was a 0.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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, insider Nicole Miller sold 19,199 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.58, for a total value of $126,329.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. Company insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LegalZoom.com

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LZ. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 165.3% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,730,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,044,000 after acquiring an additional 2,324,481 shares during the period. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of LegalZoom.com during the 3rd quarter valued at about $20,686,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 187.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,509,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,636,487 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in LegalZoom.com by 180.5% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,797,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156,462 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in LegalZoom.com during the fourth quarter worth about $10,526,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

About LegalZoom.com

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.