Wall Street Zen Upgrades LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) to "Strong-Buy"

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report released on Friday.

LZ has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on LegalZoom.com from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Barclays increased their price target on LegalZoom.com from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of LegalZoom.com from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $8.64.

LegalZoom.com Stock Up 0.9%

LZ stock traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $9.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,504,310 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,782,267. LegalZoom.com has a one year low of $5.33 and a one year high of $10.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.14. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $8.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.41.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.13. LegalZoom.com had a net margin of 3.61% and a return on equity of 32.88%. The firm had revenue of $183.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.17 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.09 EPS. LegalZoom.com's quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that LegalZoom.com will post 0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LegalZoom.com

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in LegalZoom.com by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,271,769 shares of the company's stock worth $152,241,000 after purchasing an additional 2,574,700 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of LegalZoom.com by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,525,142 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,474,000 after buying an additional 250,409 shares during the period. Ararat Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of LegalZoom.com by 26.6% during the 4th quarter. Ararat Capital Management LP now owns 3,248,482 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,396,000 after buying an additional 682,678 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of LegalZoom.com by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,094,594 shares of the company's stock valued at $23,240,000 after buying an additional 26,607 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of LegalZoom.com by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,186,816 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,828,000 after buying an additional 166,385 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company's stock.

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.