Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Increases Position in LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings in LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ) by 15.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,581,315 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 762,612 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in LegalZoom.com were worth $46,827,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LZ. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in LegalZoom.com in the 2nd quarter valued at $114,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in LegalZoom.com in the 4th quarter valued at $120,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of LegalZoom.com during the 1st quarter worth $135,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 13,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074 shares during the period. Finally, Ascent Group LLC increased its position in shares of LegalZoom.com by 27.6% during the 1st quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 13,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $182,000 after purchasing an additional 2,950 shares during the last quarter. 81.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LZ shares. Barclays cut shares of LegalZoom.com from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. William Blair initiated coverage on LegalZoom.com in a research report on Monday, September 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on LegalZoom.com from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded LegalZoom.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup cut LegalZoom.com from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $15.00 to $8.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.79.

LegalZoom.com Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LZ opened at $6.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $6.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.15. LegalZoom.com, Inc. has a 1-year low of $5.33 and a 1-year high of $13.74.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.01. LegalZoom.com had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 22.36%. The firm had revenue of $177.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $172.92 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that LegalZoom.com, Inc. will post 0.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.