Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. Acquires New Position in LegalZoom.com, Inc. $LZ

Key Points

• Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. has made a new investment of $6.90 million in LegalZoom.com, acquiring 801,080 shares, which represents 0.44% of the company.
• LegalZoom.com reported $0.15 earnings per share for its latest quarter, meeting analysts' expectations, and its revenue rose by 8.5% year-over-year to $192.51 million.
• Wall Street analysts have recently increased their price targets for LegalZoom.com, with Citigroup raising theirs from $10.00 to $12.00, while Bank of America upgraded the stock from "underperform" to "buy."

Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 801,080 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,897,000. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.44% of LegalZoom.com as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LZ. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in LegalZoom.com during the first quarter worth about $281,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 322,510 shares of the company's stock worth $2,422,000 after buying an additional 74,507 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of LegalZoom.com by 297.9% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,171,584 shares of the company's stock worth $8,799,000 after buying an additional 877,125 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in LegalZoom.com in the 4th quarter valued at $334,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in LegalZoom.com by 54.0% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 46,857 shares of the company's stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 16,430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on LZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on LegalZoom.com from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Bank of America upgraded shares of LegalZoom.com from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $8.00 to $12.00 in a research report on Friday, August 8th. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of LegalZoom.com from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of LegalZoom.com from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $10.83.

LegalZoom.com Price Performance

Shares of LZ stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $10.37. 2,635,625 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,294,370. LegalZoom.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $6.16 and a fifty-two week high of $11.93. The stock's fifty day moving average is $9.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.04. The company has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.25.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15. LegalZoom.com had a net margin of 4.07% and a return on equity of 20.36%. The business had revenue of $192.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.49 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.10 earnings per share. LegalZoom.com's revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. LegalZoom.com has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that LegalZoom.com, Inc. will post 0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Noel Bertram Watson sold 27,319 shares of LegalZoom.com stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.07, for a total value of $302,421.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,676,426 shares in the company, valued at $18,558,035.82. This trade represents a 1.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John Francis Murphy sold 24,250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.57, for a total value of $256,322.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 69,953 shares of the company's stock, valued at $739,403.21. This represents a 25.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 109,859 shares of company stock valued at $1,193,100. Company insiders own 5.90% of the company's stock.

LegalZoom.com 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.