Insider Selling: LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) CFO Sells 83,629 Shares of Stock

LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ) CFO Noel Bertram Watson sold 83,629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.83, for a total transaction of $487,557.07. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,407,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,207,479.83. The trade was a 5.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Noel Bertram Watson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, August 20th, Noel Bertram Watson sold 416,371 shares of LegalZoom.com stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.91, for a total value of $2,460,752.61.

LegalZoom.com Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of LZ traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $5.84. 2,094,701 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,302,388. The company’s 50 day moving average is $6.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.50. The company has a market capitalization of $1.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.89, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.28. LegalZoom.com, Inc. has a 52 week low of $5.22 and a 52 week high of $12.40.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.01. LegalZoom.com had a return on equity of 15.83% and a net margin of 2.13%.The firm had revenue of $205.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $205.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that LegalZoom.com, Inc. will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LZ. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in LegalZoom.com by 165.3% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,730,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,044,000 after purchasing an additional 2,324,481 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of LegalZoom.com during the 3rd quarter valued at about $20,686,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of LegalZoom.com by 187.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,509,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,231,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636,487 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,156,462 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of LegalZoom.com in the fourth quarter worth approximately $10,526,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded LegalZoom.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Citigroup lowered their price target on LegalZoom.com from $8.50 to $7.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $7.00 target price (down from $8.00) on shares of LegalZoom.com in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, William Blair lowered LegalZoom.com from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $7.30.

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.