Quantbot Technologies LP Boosts Stock Holdings in LegalZoom.com, Inc. $LZ

Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ) by 2,206.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,648 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 73,325 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in LegalZoom.com were worth $683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of LegalZoom.com during the fourth quarter worth $185,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in LegalZoom.com by 30.6% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 42,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 9,981 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in LegalZoom.com by 71.8% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 778,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,703,000 after buying an additional 325,310 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of LegalZoom.com by 5.8% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 200,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after buying an additional 11,000 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 65.8% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 199,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,722,000 after buying an additional 79,384 shares in the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Noel Bertram Watson sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.56, for a total value of $143,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 1,551,582 shares in the company, valued at $14,833,123.92. The trade was a 0.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicole Miller sold 23,506 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.63, for a total transaction of $226,362.78. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 868,627 shares in the company, valued at $8,364,878.01. This trade represents a 2.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 5.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of LegalZoom.com from $12.00 to $10.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley raised 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. William Blair upgraded shares of LegalZoom.com from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of LegalZoom.com from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.50.

LegalZoom.com Stock Performance

Shares of LZ opened at $9.64 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.75. LegalZoom.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $6.47 and a fifty-two week high of $12.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 80.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.23.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $190.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $183.27 million. LegalZoom.com had a return on equity of 9.91% and a net margin of 3.05%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.17 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that LegalZoom.com, Inc. will post 0.25 EPS for the current year.

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.