LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

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

LegalZoom.com Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ LZ traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $7.25. 4,051,165 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,567,488. LegalZoom.com has a twelve month low of $5.22 and a twelve month high of $12.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 120.85, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $7.06.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) last posted 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 return on equity of 11.53% and a net margin of 1.46%.The business had revenue of $206.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.14 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.13 earnings per share. LegalZoom.com’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that LegalZoom.com will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Nicole Miller sold 19,199 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.58, for a total transaction of $126,329.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,119,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,364,480.76. This represents a 1.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through 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, CFO Noel Bertram Watson sold 15,000 shares of the company’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 value of $96,750.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 2,041,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,169,913.15. This represents a 0.73% decrease in their position. 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. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in LegalZoom.com by 187.4% during the first 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 period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in LegalZoom.com by 5.6% during the first 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 period. Amundi increased its position in LegalZoom.com by 83.2% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 101,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $578,000 after buying an additional 46,285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in LegalZoom.com by 1,656.5% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 188,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,069,000 after buying an additional 177,773 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.