Ararat Capital Management LP Raises Holdings in LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ)

Ararat Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ - Free Report) by 26.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,248,482 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 682,678 shares during the quarter. LegalZoom.com comprises about 9.7% of Ararat Capital Management LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Ararat Capital Management LP owned 1.88% of LegalZoom.com worth $24,396,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of LegalZoom.com by 308.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 224,782 shares of the company's stock worth $1,427,000 after acquiring an additional 169,761 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Capital Management LP purchased a new position in LegalZoom.com during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,387,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of LegalZoom.com by 14.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 567,675 shares of the company's stock worth $3,605,000 after acquiring an additional 71,291 shares during the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services acquired a new stake in shares of LegalZoom.com during the 4th quarter valued at about $751,000. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in shares of LegalZoom.com by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 545,404 shares of the company's stock worth $4,096,000 after purchasing an additional 55,336 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company's stock.

LegalZoom.com Stock Performance

LegalZoom.com stock traded up $1.95 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $9.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,136,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,848,295. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $8.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.20. LegalZoom.com, Inc. has a 12 month low of $5.33 and a 12 month high of $10.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.14.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.13. The business had revenue of $183.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.17 million. LegalZoom.com had a return on equity of 32.88% and a net margin of 3.61%. LegalZoom.com's revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that LegalZoom.com, Inc. will post 0.25 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on LZ shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of LegalZoom.com from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on LegalZoom.com from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of LegalZoom.com from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a report on Friday, April 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, LegalZoom.com presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $9.06.

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.