LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) Lifted to “Buy” at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $8.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on LZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut LegalZoom.com from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $9.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays downgraded shares of LegalZoom.com from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. JMP Securities lowered shares of LegalZoom.com from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup lowered shares of LegalZoom.com from a buy rating to a neutral rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $8.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded LegalZoom.com from a buy rating to an underperform rating and lowered their target price for the company from $13.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $10.81.

LegalZoom.com Stock Performance

NASDAQ LZ opened at $6.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.91, a PEG ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 1.10. LegalZoom.com has a one year low of $5.33 and a one year high of $15.60. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $7.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.20.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.03. LegalZoom.com had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 19.47%. The company had revenue of $174.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $174.87 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that LegalZoom.com will post 0.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LZ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of LegalZoom.com by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,999,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,219,000 after buying an additional 2,257,224 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates bought a new position in LegalZoom.com in the fourth quarter worth about $170,000. WoodTrust Financial Corp boosted its stake in LegalZoom.com by 61.1% in the fourth quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 50,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $567,000 after acquiring an additional 19,000 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 35.9% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 29,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 7,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of LegalZoom.com by 686.8% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 10,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 9,258 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

About LegalZoom.com

LegalZoom.com, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates an online platform that supports the legal, compliance, and business management needs of small businesses and consumers in the United States. The company's platform offers business formation products, such as limited liability company, incorporation of C and S corporations, nonprofit formations, doing-business-as, corporate changes and filings, business licenses, legal forms, and beneficial ownership information reports; intellectual property products consisting of trademark and patent applications, and copyright registrations; and tax services, including business and personal tax preparations.