Short Interest in LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ) Drops By 14.7%

LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,460,000 shares, a drop of 14.7% from the March 31st total of 6,400,000 shares. Currently, 4.6% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on LZ. 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. William Blair reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a report on Thursday, February 27th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of LegalZoom.com from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of LegalZoom.com from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Two 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $9.06.

LegalZoom.com Stock Up 26.8 %

LegalZoom.com stock traded up $1.95 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $9.20. 2,574,719 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,846,317. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $8.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.20. LegalZoom.com has a twelve month low of $5.33 and a twelve month high of $10.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a PE ratio of 70.78, a PEG 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 for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13. LegalZoom.com had a return on equity of 32.88% and a net margin of 3.61%. The company had revenue of $183.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.09 EPS. LegalZoom.com's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that LegalZoom.com will post 0.25 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LegalZoom.com

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of LegalZoom.com by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,271,769 shares of the company's stock valued at $152,241,000 after purchasing an additional 2,574,700 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 877,125 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in LegalZoom.com during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,769,000. Ararat Capital Management LP boosted its stake in LegalZoom.com by 26.6% in the 4th quarter. Ararat Capital Management LP now owns 3,248,482 shares of the company's stock worth $24,396,000 after purchasing an additional 682,678 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in LegalZoom.com by 103.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,153,409 shares of the company's stock worth $8,662,000 after buying an additional 585,734 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.