Barclays Reiterates Underweight Rating for LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ)

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ)‘s stock had its “underweight” rating reissued by research analysts at Barclays in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $6.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $9.00. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 13.67% from the company’s current price.

LZ has been the subject of several other research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of LegalZoom.com from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a research report on Monday, December 29th. William Blair raised LegalZoom.com from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. UBS Group lowered their target price on LegalZoom.com from $12.00 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on LegalZoom.com from $8.50 to $9.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.42.

LegalZoom.com Stock Up 0.4%

LegalZoom.com stock opened at $6.95 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $8.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.25. LegalZoom.com has a 52 week low of $6.14 and a 52 week high of $12.40.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.01). LegalZoom.com had a return on equity of 6.35% and a net margin of 2.04%.The business had revenue of $190.27 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. LegalZoom.com’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that LegalZoom.com will post 0.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LegalZoom.com declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, February 19th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 8.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Nicole Miller sold 23,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.63, for a total transaction of $154,644.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 813,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,390,408.79. This represents a 2.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Noel Bertram Watson sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.96, for a total value of $104,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 1,480,860 shares in the company, valued at $10,306,785.60. This trade represents a 1.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LegalZoom.com

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LZ. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 368.6% during the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 406,847 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,223,000 after buying an additional 320,026 shares in the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of LegalZoom.com in the third quarter worth about $3,397,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in LegalZoom.com by 60.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,170,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,528,000 after acquiring an additional 817,462 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in LegalZoom.com by 125.1% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 419,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,729,000 after acquiring an additional 233,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in LegalZoom.com during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,403,000. 81.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About LegalZoom.com

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.