LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ) gapped up prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $5.83, but opened at $6.13. LegalZoom.com shares last traded at $6.0830, with a volume of 730,377 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on LZ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of LegalZoom.com from $14.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of LegalZoom.com from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of LegalZoom.com from $12.00 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $6.00 price objective (down from $9.00) on shares of LegalZoom.com in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.42.

LegalZoom.com Trading Up 4.2%

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $6.87 and its 200-day moving average is $8.85.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $190.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.85 million. LegalZoom.com had a return on equity of 6.35% and a net margin of 2.04%.LegalZoom.com’s quarterly revenue was up 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that LegalZoom.com, Inc. will post 0.25 EPS for the current year.

LegalZoom.com declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, February 19th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at LegalZoom.com

In related news, insider Nicole Miller sold 23,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.63, for a total transaction of $154,644.75. Following the transaction, the insider owned 813,033 shares in the company, valued at $5,390,408.79. This represents a 2.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Noel Bertram Watson sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.96, for a total transaction of $104,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,480,860 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,306,785.60. This represents a 1.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of LegalZoom.com

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LZ. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in LegalZoom.com by 165.3% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,730,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,044,000 after buying an additional 2,324,481 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of LegalZoom.com during the third quarter valued at $20,686,000. Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC bought a new position in LegalZoom.com in the third quarter valued at about $18,106,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in LegalZoom.com by 180.5% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,797,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156,462 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in LegalZoom.com in the fourth quarter worth about $10,526,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

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.