LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) Shares Gap Up - Here's What Happened

LegalZoom.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:LZ - Get Free Report) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $8.15, but opened at $9.12. LegalZoom.com shares last traded at $8.52, with a volume of 244,628 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective 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. Citigroup cut LegalZoom.com from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $15.00 to $8.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of LegalZoom.com in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Bank of America cut LegalZoom.com from a "buy" rating to an "underperform" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $13.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays cut LegalZoom.com from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $9.79.

LegalZoom.com Trading Up 13.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.08, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $6.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $7.65.

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.01. LegalZoom.com had a return on equity of 22.36% and a net margin of 3.10%. The business had revenue of $177.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $172.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.02 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that LegalZoom.com, Inc. will post 0.23 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LegalZoom.com

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quarry LP increased its stake in LegalZoom.com by 318.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,474 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 3,406 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in LegalZoom.com by 179.8% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,099 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 3,919 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in LegalZoom.com during the second quarter valued at about $71,000. Creative Planning bought a new position in LegalZoom.com during the third quarter valued at about $72,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in LegalZoom.com by 16.2% during the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the company's stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.99% of the company's stock.

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.