Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) Price Target Lowered to $55.00 at JMP Securities

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) had its price target cut by equities researchers at JMP Securities from $60.00 to $55.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market outperform” rating on the asset manager’s stock. JMP Securities’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 61.38% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on LAZ. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Lazard from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Lazard from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Lazard from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Lazard from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $56.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lazard from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.67.

Lazard Price Performance

LAZ traded up $0.04 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $34.08. 892,477 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 914,857. Lazard has a 12-month low of $31.97 and a 12-month high of $61.14. The company’s 50-day moving average is $48.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72. The company has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.83 and a beta of 1.27.

Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.09. Lazard had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 44.58%. Research analysts forecast that Lazard will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Lazard news, CEO Evan L. Russo sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.64, for a total value of $1,877,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 188,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,108,350.72. This represents a 15.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Peter Richard Orszag sold 64,539 shares of Lazard stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.24, for a total value of $2,919,744.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 234,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,623,437.76. This trade represents a 21.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 189,078 shares of company stock valued at $9,120,541. 3.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lazard

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in Lazard by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,948,167 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $98,149,000 after acquiring an additional 55,469 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Lazard during the fourth quarter worth about $947,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Lazard by 128.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 678,617 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,935,000 after purchasing an additional 381,546 shares during the last quarter. Monument Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Lazard in the 4th quarter valued at $2,809,000. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Lazard during the fourth quarter worth about $3,735,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.80% of the company’s stock.

About Lazard

Lazard, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a financial advisory and asset management firm in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. It operates in two segments, Financial Advisory and Asset Management. The Financial Advisory segment offers financial advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, shareholder, sovereign, geopolitical advisory, and other strategic advisory services, as well as restructuring and liability management, and capital raising and placement services.