LegalZoom.com, Inc. $LZ Shares Sold by Empowered Funds LLC

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC cut its LegalZoom.com stake by 51.4% in the second quarter, selling 264,357 shares and retaining 250,360 shares. Institutional investors and hedge funds still own approximately 81.99% of LZ.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: five analysts rate the stock Hold and three rate it Sell, resulting in an average “Reduce” rating and an average price target of $7.30. JPMorgan and Citigroup recently lowered their price targets.
• LegalZoom reported quarterly EPS of $0.16, slightly above the $0.15 consensus, while revenue rose 6.6% year over year to $205.29 million. The stock opened at $6.40, near its 52-week low of $5.22, while insiders sold 577,475 shares worth about $3.38 million over the past 90 days.

Empowered Funds LLC reduced its holdings in LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ - Free Report) by 51.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 250,360 shares of the company's stock after selling 264,357 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.15% of LegalZoom.com worth $1,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 20.8% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,408,170 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,757,000 after purchasing an additional 758,367 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in LegalZoom.com by 165.3% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,730,487 shares of the company's stock worth $37,044,000 after purchasing an additional 2,324,481 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in LegalZoom.com by 81.0% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,623,111 shares of the company's stock worth $36,054,000 after purchasing an additional 1,621,125 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in LegalZoom.com by 2.8% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,327,296 shares of the company's stock worth $34,537,000 after purchasing an additional 90,599 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in LegalZoom.com by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,112,895 shares of the company's stock valued at $17,650,000 after purchasing an additional 91,131 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $7.00 price objective (down from $8.00) on shares of LegalZoom.com in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. William Blair downgraded LegalZoom.com from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Citigroup lowered their price target on LegalZoom.com from $8.50 to $7.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded LegalZoom.com from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, LegalZoom.com presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $7.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Noel Watson sold 83,629 shares of LegalZoom.com stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.83, for a total value of $487,557.07. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,407,801 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,207,479.83. The trade was a 5.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicole Miller sold 33,479 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.51, for a total value of $184,469.29. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 943,453 shares in the company, valued at $5,198,426.03. This represents a 3.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. Insiders sold 577,475 shares of company stock valued at $3,375,197 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 7.40% of the company's stock.

LegalZoom.com Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LZ opened at $6.40 on Friday. LegalZoom.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $5.22 and a fifty-two week high of $12.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $6.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.11, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.26.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.01. LegalZoom.com had a return on equity of 15.83% and a net margin of 2.13%.The company had revenue of $205.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.15 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that LegalZoom.com, Inc. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LegalZoom.com Profile

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.

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