Petrus Trust Company LTA Makes New Investment in LegalZoom.com, Inc. $LZ

Key Points

• Petrus Trust Company LTA purchased 65,689 shares of LegalZoom.com, Inc. for approximately $566,000 in the first quarter, amidst increasing institutional interest in the stock.
• LegalZoom.com has seen significant investment from other firms, with Nuveen LLC alone investing $18.6 million in recent months, leading to institutional investors owning 81.99% of the stock.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed ratings for LegalZoom.com, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a price target averaging $10.50, reflecting cautious optimism about the company's growth prospects.

Petrus Trust Company LTA purchased a new stake in LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 65,689 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $566,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in LegalZoom.com by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 74,980 shares of the company's stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 2,161 shares during the period. Invenomic Capital Management LP acquired a new position in LegalZoom.com in the 1st quarter worth $9,457,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in LegalZoom.com by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,186,816 shares of the company's stock worth $18,828,000 after purchasing an additional 166,385 shares during the period. Bosun Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in LegalZoom.com in the 1st quarter worth $284,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in LegalZoom.com by 158.6% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 939,999 shares of the company's stock worth $8,093,000 after purchasing an additional 576,528 shares during the period. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at LegalZoom.com

In other LegalZoom.com news, insider Nicole Miller sold 25,154 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.82, for a total value of $272,166.28. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 960,032 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,387,546.24. This represents a 2.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Noel Bertram Watson sold 27,319 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.07, for a total transaction of $302,421.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,676,426 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,558,035.82. This represents a 1.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 109,859 shares of company stock valued at $1,193,100 in the last three months. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LZ. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of LegalZoom.com from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of LegalZoom.com from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of LegalZoom.com from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of LegalZoom.com from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, LegalZoom.com has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $10.83.

LegalZoom.com Price Performance

LegalZoom.com stock traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $10.19. The company had a trading volume of 1,962,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,118,180. The firm has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a PE ratio of 63.69, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.25. LegalZoom.com, Inc. has a one year low of $6.16 and a one year high of $11.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.79 and a 200 day moving average of $9.04.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.15. The firm had revenue of $192.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $182.49 million. LegalZoom.com had a net margin of 4.07% and a return on equity of 20.36%. The business's revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. LegalZoom.com has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that LegalZoom.com, Inc. will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

LegalZoom.com Company Profile

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.