LegalZoom.com’s (LZ) Underweight Rating Reiterated at Barclays

Barclays reissued their underweight rating on shares of LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) in a research note published on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Barclays currently has a $6.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $9.00.

LZ has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on LegalZoom.com from $12.00 to $10.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on LegalZoom.com from $14.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of LegalZoom.com from $12.00 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of LegalZoom.com from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, LegalZoom.com presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.42.

LegalZoom.com Stock Performance

Shares of LZ stock opened at $6.67 on Wednesday. LegalZoom.com has a fifty-two week low of $6.14 and a fifty-two week high of $12.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of 83.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.53.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.01). LegalZoom.com had a return on equity of 6.35% and a net margin of 2.04%.The company had revenue of $190.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. LegalZoom.com’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that LegalZoom.com will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

LegalZoom.com announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, February 19th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 8.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at LegalZoom.com

In related news, CFO Noel Bertram Watson sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.96, for a total transaction of $104,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,480,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,306,785.60. This represents a 1.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicole Miller sold 23,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.63, for a total value of $154,644.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 813,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,390,408.79. This represents a 2.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 5.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LZ. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in LegalZoom.com during the third quarter worth $34,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of LegalZoom.com in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of LegalZoom.com by 58.5% during the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 3,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,441 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in LegalZoom.com by 477.3% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 4,555 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 3,766 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of LegalZoom.com by 976.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 4,140 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.