LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) Stock Price Down 5.3% on Analyst Downgrade

LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ) shares traded down 5.3% on Tuesday after Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. The company traded as low as $7.34 and last traded at $7.2950. 486,444 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 3,097,888 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.70.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LegalZoom.com news, CFO Noel Bertram Watson sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.45, for a total transaction of $96,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,041,847 shares in the company, valued at $13,169,913.15. This represents a 0.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing 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, CEO Jeffrey M. Stibel acquired 125,000 shares of LegalZoom.com stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost 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 approximately $18,176,995.35. The trade was a 4.42% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LegalZoom.com

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in LegalZoom.com by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 41,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,403 shares during the last quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Prelude Capital Management LLC now owns 14,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,470 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp grew its position in shares of LegalZoom.com by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 13,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of LegalZoom.com by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 59,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $594,000 after purchasing an additional 1,705 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

LegalZoom.com Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.55, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $6.40 and a 200 day moving average of $6.94.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $206.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.14 million. LegalZoom.com had a return on equity of 11.53% and a net margin of 1.46%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that LegalZoom.com, Inc. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.